THE  ABDICAT 


OF  O'HIGGINS 


THE    INDEPENDENCE 
OF  CHILE 


BY 
A.  STUART  M.  CHISHOLM 


BOSTON 

SHERMAN,    FRENCH   6-   COMPANY 
1911 


COPYRIGHT,  1911 
SHERMAN,  FRENCH  &•  COMPANY 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PART  I 

THE  SPANISH  COLONY 1 

PART  II 

THE  SPANISH  JUNTA 71 

PART  III 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     ...      93 

PART  IV 

THE   WAR    OF    INDEPENDENCE    ....    179 
TO  RANCAGIL^-- 

PART  V 

THE  WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE      ... 

TO  MAIPO 
CHILE  UNDER  O'HiGGiNS 


22761.4 


PART  I 
THE  SPANISH  COLONY 


"Mientras  la  tengamos,  hagamos  uso  de  lo 
que  nos  pueda  ayudar,  para  que  tomemos 
sustancia,  pues  en  llegandola  a  perder,  nos 
faltaria  ese  pedazo  de  tocino  para  el  caldo 
gordo."  ARANDA  to  FLORIDABLANCA. 

July  21,  1785. 

"While  we  hold  it  (America)  let  us  make 
use  of  it  as  far  as  possible  to  strengthen 
us,  for  when  we  lose  it  we  shall  miss  the 
piece  of  pork  that  makes  our  soup  rich." 


"No  he  de  dejar  a  los  Chilenos  ni  lagri- 
mas  que  llorar."  MARCO  DEL  PONT. 

"I  shall  not  leave  the  Chileans  even  tears 
to  shed." 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY 

The  history  of  human  progress  cannot  furnish 
a  more  interesting  spectacle  than  to  see  arise,  from 
the  decay  and  degeneration  of  despotism  and  self- 
ishness, the  white  flower  of  freedom ;  to  see  justice 
issue  from  corruption,  equality  from  degradation, 
contentment  and  prosperity  from  oppression  and 
neglect.  Nowhere  in  the  chronicle  of  nations  is 
this  contrast  more  strikingly  represented  than  in 
the  story  of  Chile,  the  roots  of  whose  independence 
are  to  be  sought  in  the  conditions  that  Spain  im- 
posed upon  the  colony  during  the  period  of  her 
supremacy.  These  formed  a  comprehensive  code 
of  enactments  whose  only  purpose  was  to  augment 
the  ever-increasing  torrent  of  revenue  that  poured 
its  golden  flood  of  opulence  into  the  royal  coffers 
of  Spain.  These  statutes  were  not  infrequently 
suggested  by  Spanish  Colonial  officers,  eager  for 
the  reward  of  royal  commendation,  and  were  there- 
fore often  prompted  by  local  and  particular  re- 
quirements which  modified,  without  superseding, 
previous  decrees.  None  indeed,  or  very  few,  was 
ever  rescinded,  but  new  were  added  to  old  until  af- 
ter two  centuries,  Colonial  law  was  become  a  maze 
and  an  enigma.  In  1680  the  Summary  or  Corpus 
called  the  "Recopilacion  de  Leyes  de  los  Reinos  de 
. 3 


4         THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

las  Indias,"  was  completed  under  Charles  II,  after 
many  years  of  labor  in  which  some  of  the  greatest 
lawyers  and  statesmen  of  Spain  shared.  This 
summary  was  divided  on  the  plan  of  the  Pandects, 
into  eleven  Books,  each  book  into  several  Titles, 
and  under  each  Title  were  arranged  the  laws  per- 
taining to  the  subject  under  which  they  were 
grouped;  but  while  this  revision  and  summary  re- 
stored a  degree  of  order  to  the  previous  confusion, 
yet  it  is  even  to-day  extremely  difficult,  at  any 
stage  of  Colonial  history,  to  ascertain  the  exact 
relation  which  the  law  sustained  toward  that  which 
it  sought  to  regulate ;  and  especially  is  this  true 
when  one  wishes  to  trace  the  chronological  devel- 
opment of  particular  subjects  of  legislation. 
Still,  such  as  it  is,  the  Recopilacion  is  the  author- 
itative and  ultimate  voice  of  the  King  of  Spain  and 
of  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  and  must  serve  as 
the  basis  of  any  broad  and  impartial  review  of 
Spain's  method  as  well  as  of  Spain's  purpose  in  the 
scheme  of  Colonial  government  which  is  there  elab- 
orated with  such  scrupulous  minutiosity  of  detail. 
The  immediate  cause,  which  both  manifested  the 
necessity,  and  furnished  the  occasion,  of  the  revolu- 
tion, was  the  occupation  of  the  Spanish  peninsula 
by  Napoleon  in  1808,  and  the  gradual  extirpation 
of  any  central  authority  which  might  reasonably 
assume  to  represent  the  Spanish  monarch.  The 
anxieties  of  suspense,  the  fluctuations  of  fear,  and 
the  final  consummation  of  the  apparently  hopeless 
extinction  of  Spanish  authority,  plunged  the  Col- 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  5 

onies  into  an  abyss  of  despair,  from  which,  partly 
we  must  acknowledge,  against  their  wish,  they 
were  led  gradually  into  a  twilight  of  loyalty,  which 
eventually  brought  on  the  full  day  of  independ- 
ence. 

It  is  this  early  dawn  of  freedom  that  Chile  cele- 
brates as  the  birthdate  of  her  emancipation.  Sim- 
ilar movements  occurred  simultaneously  in  Buenos 
Ayres,  Mexico,  and  Venezuela,  and  rounded  out  the 
full  circle  of  revolution,  so  that  when  Ferdinand 
returned  to  Spain  in  1813  and  remounted  the 
throne,  he  faced  an  apparently  concerted  revolt  of 
the  greater  number  of  his  colonial  dependencies. 
Even  at  this  time,  by  the  use  of  prudence  and 
lenity,  he  might  have  conciliated  all  disaffection 
among  his  Colonies.  A  little  relaxation  of  the 
commercial  laws,  a  few  abuses  amended,  even  a 
promise  of  amendment,  however  vague,  would  have 
confirmed  the  wavering  loyalty  of  the  greater  part 
of  his  subjects  and  have  perpetuated  indefinitely 
his  dominion  over  his  Colonies,  who  wanted  only  a 
pretext  to  resume  their  ancient  allegiance;  but 
perhaps  there  was  never  a  sovereign  less  fitted  for 
a  work  requiring  patience  and  a  generous  placa- 
bility. 

After  the  "family  party"  at  Bayonne,  he  wrote 
to  Napoleon  to  thank  him  for  seating  Joseph  on 
the  Spanish  throne  and  to  Joseph  himself  to  con- 
gratulate him  on  his  accession.  At  'the  same  time 
he  sent  a  despatch  to  the  Asturians,  calling  on 
them  to  assert  their  loyalty  to  himself  and  their 


6         THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

hatred  of  the  "perfidious  Frenchman"  who  had  de- 
posed him.  Then,  four  days  later,  he  issued  a 
proclamation  to  the  Spanish  nation,  in  which  he 
required  them  to  submit  to  the  "beneficent  pur- 
poses" of  Napoleon.  The  truth  was  never  in  him, 
nor  dignity,  nor  justice,  nor  human  sympathy. 
Intrigue  without  sagacity,  duplicity  without  tact, 
and  selfish  cruelty  abounded  in  him,  and  trans- 
formed his  early  title,  "El  Deseado"  into  a  later 
and  more  accurate  one  "El  Despota."  On  his  re- 
turn to  power  in  1813,  he  proclaimed  his  purpose 
to  establish  absolute  government,  and  persecuted 
the  members  of  the  Cortes,  who  had  saved  his 
throne.  Like  all  the  Bourbons,  he  had  "rien  ap- 
pris,  rien  oublie."  So  the  movement  of  1810,  which 
was  not  in  any  general  sense  directed  against  Fer- 
dinand but  against  Napoleon,  which  was  not  the 
outcome  of  resentment  but  of  sympathy,  was  forced 
to  proceed  along  the  path  on  which  it  had  un- 
consciously and  with  trepidation  entered. 

The  Colonial  possessions  of  Spain  in  Amer- 
ica in  1810,  comprised  the  Viceroy alties  of  Mex- 
ico, New  Granada,  Peru  and  Buenos  Ayres  and 
extended  from  Alaska  to  Cape  Horn.  The  vari- 
ous provinces  of  Guatemala,  Panama,  Venezuela, 
Ecuador  and  Chile,  were  subordinate,  and  in  some 
matters  of  civil  and  military  government,  subject, 
to  the  Viceroy  within  whose  jurisdiction  the  prov- 
ince in  question  was  included. 

The  governor  of  a  Province  was  appointed  di- 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  7 

rectly  by  the  King,  although  the  Viceroy  or  the 
Royal  Audience  has  for  two  hundred  years  the 
right  of  appointment  in  commendam.  As  Chief 
Civil  Magistrate  he  was  entitled  Governor,  and  he 
was  the  President  of  the  Royal  Audience  and  Cap- 
tain-General of  the  military  forces  of  his  prov- 
ince. 

The  Royal  Audience,  or  Supreme  Court  of  Law 
and  Justice,  adjudged  all  civil  causes,  as  a  Court 
of  ultimate  jurisdiction,  as  well  as  all  important 
criminal  causes.  It  was  composed  of  the  President 
—the  Governor — and  Judges  called  Oidores, 
whose  number  varied  from  three  to  eight  in  differ- 
ent provinces.  Seniority  of  service  regulated 
precedence  in  the  Royal  Audience ;  the  oldest  Judge 
was  Regent,  the  next  oldest,  Dean.  In  addition 
to  the  Judges,  the  Court  included  a  Fiscal  or  At- 
torney General,  an  Asesor,  a  Protector  of  Indians 
and  a  Secretary.  Of  these  none  below  the  rank 
of  Judge  had  a  vote. 

The  title  Asesor  is  not  unknown  to  those  famil- 
iar with  the  jurisprudence  of  Scotland,  where  it 
has  nearly  the  same  value  as  in  Spain,  the  Asesor 
being  the  legal  advisor  of  the  civil  magistrate.  It 
is  an  office  similar  to  that  of  Corporation  Counsel 
in  some  parts  of  the  United  States,  except  that  in 
the  dominions  of  Spain  the  Asesor  exercised  also 
judicial  functions,  and  at  times  even  acted  by  dele- 
gated authority  as  the  representative  of  the  Gov- 
ernor. 

The  Alguacil  Mayor,  or  Chief  of  Police,  was  an 


8         THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

officer  of  the  Royal  Audience.  The  composition 
of  this  body  varied  slightly  in  different  provinces 
and  at  different  times.  The  Audience  was,  how- 
ever, more  than  a  Supreme  Court  of  Law.  It  pos- 
sessed advisory  and  at  times  executive  func^ns, 
and  formed  a  Cabinet  or  Council  which  was  often 
at  variance  with  the  Governor  and  occasionally 
even  hostile  to  him. 

The  rmun'fripal  grnwrnrnpnt..  called  the  Cabildo 
or  Ayuntamiento,  consisted  of  a  Corregidor,  or 
Mayor,  as  presiding  officer,  ten  Regidores  or  Al- 
dermen, a  Fiscal,  an  Asesor  and  several  subordi- 
nate officers.  Some  towns,  instead  of  a  Correg- 
idor, elected  two  Alcaldes,  who  presided  alternately. 
The  Governor  had  no  power  of  appointment  or 
removal  in  either  the  Royal  Audience  or  the  Ca- 
bildo ;  though  subordinate  to  him  they  were  in  a 
way  independent  of  him.  The  Judges  and  the 
Regidores  were  named  by  the  King  or  by  the 
Council  of  the  Indies  acting  in  his  name.  Occa- 
sion will  arise  later  to  examine  the  manner  in  which 
these  royal  appointments  were  conferred. 

ISOLATION 

The  complete  isolation  of  her  American  Col- 
onies was  the  first  and  most  important  means  by 
which  for  several  centuries  Spain  kept  them  in 
complete  submission.  This  policy  was  inaugu- 
rated long  before  the  magnitude  of  the  project 
could  be  even  foreshadowed,  for  in  the  letter  in 
which  Columbus  imparted  to  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  9 

bella  the  news  of  his  discovery  of  a  new  world,  are 
these  remarkable  words.  "And  I  say  that  your 
Highnesses  ought  not  to  permit  any  stranger  to 
set  foot  here  but  only  Catholic  Christians,  for  the 
beginning  and  the  end  of  this  adventure  was  the 
growth  and  glory  of  the  Christian  religion." 
(Navarrete  "Coleccion  de  Viajes  i  Descubrimientos" 
tomo  I.,  paj.  71.)  Columbus  having  thus  pro- 
vided for  the  interests  of  religion,  the  Pope  pro- 
ceeded to  protect  the  political  interests  of  Spain, 
and  in  a  bull  dated  May  4,  1493,  Alexander  VI 
threatened  with  greater  excommunication  any  one 
who  should  come  to  the  new  world  to  trade  without 
a  special  license  of  the  King  of  Spain.  Relying  on 
this  double  counsel,  Spain  endeavored  to  keep  the 
Pacific  Ocean  a  private  and  closed  sea, — a  Spanish 
lake,  and  maintained  her  purpose  in  spite  of  the 
incursions  of  the  great  Elizabethan  captains, 
Francis  Drake,  Thomas  Cavendish  and  Richard 
Hawkins,  and,  in  the  following  century,  of  Oliver 
de  Noort  and  the  Dutch.  Lope  de  Vega  himself 
sang  of  the  exploits  of  the  English  in  the  Pacific. 
But  this  was  merely  an  episode,  as  was  also  the 
license  given  to  the  French,  after  the  succession  to 
the  Spanish  throne  of  Louis  XIV's  grandson,  to 
engage  in  trade  with  the  Colonies  of  Spain.  This 
license  was  speedily  revoked  and  never  renewed. 
To  such  an  extent  had  the  advice  of  Columbus 
and  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  coinciding  with 
and  supporting  the  manifest  interests  of  the  crown, 
succeeded  in  establishing  and  perpetuating  the  iso- 


10       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

lation  of  the  Pacific  Colonies.  At  the  close  of  the 
Colonial  period, — on  the  very  threshold  of  free- 
dom, in  1808,  a  careful  census  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Chile  showed,  in  a  population  of  four  hundred 
thousand,  the  scanty  number  of  seventy-nine  for- 
eigners, who  represented  thirteen  different  nations. 
Nearly  all  of  them  were  employed  in  offices  and 
stores  as  clerks,  and  among  them  all  there  were 
only  three  individuals  who  were  not  communicants 
of  the  Roman  church.  The  wonder  is  that  these 
three  were  permitted  to  remain  undisturbed  in  the 
country,  and  in  fact,  on  the  9th  of  January,  1810, 
orders  were  issued  by  Governor  Carrasco  to  expel 
them  also  from  the  territories  of  the  province. 

No  accusation  then  could  have  been  more  absurd 
than  the  charge,  made  by  Melchor  Martinez,  that 
the  great  cause  of  the  revolution  of  her  Colonies 
was  due  to  Spain's  neglect  of  the  restriction  orig- 
inally suggested  by  Columbus  and  which  was  in 
fact  carried  out  with  such  pertinacity  during  the 
whole  Colonial  period.  This  is  the  one  offense  of 
which,  in  the  conduct  of  her  transmarine  affairs, 
Spain  was  not  guilty,  and  is  amply  refuted  by  a 
review  of  the  royal  decrees  that  instituted  and  en- 
forced the  prohibition.  By  the  first  law  of  Title 
26,  Book  IX  of  the  Recopilacion,  "no  stranger 
shall  leave  Cadiz  for  the  Colonies  without  royal 
license,  under  the  penalty  of  the  loss  of  his  goods." 
The  next  law  provides  that  "no  stranger  shall  be 
allowed  to  embark  for  the  Colonies  without  first 
being  naturalized  in  Spain."  Further  laws  under 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  11 

the  same  Title  decree  that  "if  any  stranger  shall 
be  found  in  the  Colonies  without  the  royal  license 
he  shall  be  sent  back  to  Spain  by  the  first  return- 
ing vessel  under  sufficient  guard";  that  "even 
those  strangers  who  have  royal  license  to  remain  in 
the  Colonies  shall  not  be  permitted  to  reside  in  any 
port  or  in  any  place  near  the  sea,  but  shall  be 
obliged  to  live  apart  in  the  interior  under  the  sur- 
veillance of  the  civil  magistrates,  who  are  required 
to  keep  them  under  strict  and  constant  watch  even 
to  the  examination  of  their  correspondence."  Such 
barriers  as  these,  it  seems,  should  have  been  ade- 
quate to  prevent  immigration  or  travel  to  the 
Spanish  Colonies ;  still,  a  few  might  surmount 
them.  But  these  decrees  were  supplemented,  these 
obstacles  buttressed,  by  another  law  whose  fre- 
quent repetition  shows  the  importance  that  was 
attached  to  it  by  the  King.  December  15,  1558, 
Philip  II  decreed  the  following: 

"We  order  and  command  that  all  persons  who  shall 
trade  and  traffic  in  the  Indies,  its  provinces  and  har- 
bors, with  foreigners,  of  whatsoever  nation, — who 
shall  buy  or  barter  gold,  silver,  pearls,  precious 
stones,  fruit  or  any  other  kind  of  merchandise;  or 
shall  buy  or  barter  the  spoils  of  battle  or  shall  sell 
supplies,  ammunition,  arms  or  warlike  stores  and  shall 
be  found  guilty  of  such  sale,  trade,  barter  or  pur- 
chase, shall  be  punished  with  death  and  the  confisca- 
tion of  their  property ;  and  we  command  the  governors 
and  captains  general  of  our  provinces,  islands,  and 
harbors  to  proceed  against  such  persons  with  all  the 


12       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

rigor  of  the  law  and  to  punish  them  without  fail  and 
without  remission.  And  we  withhold  from  our  Royal 
Audiences  all  power  of  dispensation  or  remission  in  the 
execution  of  the  aforesaid  penalties,,  since  our  royal 
will  is  that  the  provisions  of  this  act  be  enforced  and 
fulfilled  without  change  or  favor.  If  any  one  shall 
disobey  this  law,  whatsoever  his  state  or  condition, 
his  life  is  forfeit  and  his  goods  shall  be  divided  into 
three  parts,  of  which  one  shall  go  to  our  royal  treas- 
ury, one  to  the  Judge,  and  one  to  the  informer." 
Lib.  IX,  Tit.  xxvii,  Lei  vii. 

This  law  was  reenacted  November  5,  1570, 
March  24,  1596;  by  Philip  III  March  2,  1602, 
October  18,  1614,  and  was  enforced  until  July 
14,  1799,  when  the  penalty  was  reduced  to  six 
years  at  hard  labor  for  those  of  ignoble  birth  and 
for  the  same  term  without  labor  for  gentlemen. 
Moreover  the  viceroys  and  governors  of  the  Span- 
ish Colonies  were  instructed  to  "regard  any  vessel, 
that  entered  the  Pacific  without  the  King's  license, 
as  an  enemy ;  even  if  it  were  a  vessel  belonging  to 
a  nation  in  alliance  with  Spain."  Amunategui 
quotes  a  colonial  adage.  "Cada  estranjero  debe 
ser  considerado  por  enemigo."  Judge  whether 
Spain  seemed  remiss  as  to  the  admission  of  for- 
eigners to  her  Colonies. 

Everything  favored  Spam's  purpose  to  maintain 
the  seclusion  of  her  Colonies.  More  important 
than  all  else  was  of  course  their  actual  remoteness, 
which  was  greatly  increased  by  the  uncertainties 
of  navigation,  and  by  the  timidity  which  length- 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  13 

ened  the  effective  distance  between  peninsular  and 
colonial  ports  in  quite  a  remarkable  degree. 
When  Don  Francisco  Ibanez  de  Peralta,  in  1700, 
came  out  from  Spain,  being  appointed  "Governor 
and  Captain  General  of  the  Kingdom  of  Chile  and 
President  of  the  Royal  Audience,"  he  was  two 
years  in  reaching  the  seat  of  his  government. 
During  the  next  century  the  time  had  been  appre- 
ciably reduced,  for  when  Don  Bernardo  O'Higgins 
reached  Valparaiso  in  the  summer  of  1802,  he  had 
spent  only  a  year  in  the  voyage  from  Cadiz. 
Sixty  years  later,  the  introduction  of  steam  again 
shortened  the  distance,  for  the  Resolution,  leav- 
ing Cadiz  on  the  10th  of  August,  arrived  at  Val- 
paraiso the  5th  of  the  following  May. 

Six  months  was  the  usual  duration  of  a  voyage 
from  Callao  to  Valparaiso.  For  two  centuries  ves- 
sels hugged  the  Peruvian  coast  and  breasted  the 
Current  of  Humboldt.  Juan  and  Ulloa,  who  were 
sent  out  by  Philip  V  on  a  voyage  of  inspection  to 
South  America,  said  in  their  report,  "Formerly, 
and  even  until  a  few  years,  the  voyage  to  and 
from  Callao  and  Chile  was  rarely  performed  in  less 
than  a  twelve-month,  but  a  European  pilot,  mak- 
ing his  first  voyage  in  the  usual  manner,  and  ob- 
serving the  direction  of  the  currents,  concluded 
that  favorable  winds  might  be  found  further  out 
at  sea.  So  in  his  second  voyage,  he  stood  out  to 
sea  and  found  that  his  conclusion  was  correct.  He 
reached  Chile  in  about  a  month,  but  this  was  con- 
sidered so  short  a  time  for  such  a  long  voyage, 


14       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

that  he  was  suspected  of  sorcery  and  accused  be- 
fore the  Inquisition.  He  was  arrested  and  ex- 
amined, but  on  showing  his  log  and  explaining  his 
course,  he  was  discharged;  ever  afterward,  how- 
ever, he  was  known  by  the  name  of  "El  Brujo — 
the  Sorcerer." 

Between  Payta  and  Callao  is  less  than  five  hun- 
dred miles,  much  less  than  the  distance  from  New 
York  to  Charleston.  The  same  observers  report 
that  the  usual  time  consumed  in  the  passage  be- 
tween these  ports,  "if  very  fortunate,  may  be  from 
forty  to  fifty  days."  They  heard  a  story  in  Lima 
which  they  thought  well  enough  authenticated  to 
quote  at  length  in  their  memorial  to  the  King,  that 
"the  master  of  a  merchant-ship,  who  had  just  been 
married  in  Payta,  took  his  wife  on  board  with  him 
for  a  trip  to  Callao.  In  the  vessel,  she  gave  birth 
to  a  son,  who,  when  the  ship  reached  Callao,  could 
read  distinctly;  for  after  running  to  windward 
two  or  three  months,  the  provisions  failed  and  the 
master  put  into  port,  where  several  months  were 
spent  in  procuring  a  fresh  supply,  and  misfortune 
pursuing  him,  he  spent  some  four  or  five  years  in 
tacking  and  victualling.  Moreover,  his  ship  was 
slow  and  ill-constructed,  "so  that  the  transaction," 
the  authors  conclude,  "has  nothing  very  wonderful 
in  it."  And  really  the  most  wonderful  thing  is 
the  conclusion  of  two  officers  of  the  Spanish  navy, 
who  were  so  accustomed  to  the  system  of  naviga- 
tion then  in  vogue  among  their  countrymen  as  to 
see  "nothing  wonderful  in  it." 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  15 

RESTRICTIONS 

The  conventual  isolation  of  the  provinces  being 
thus  established,  the  Spanish  monarch  determined 
to  forestall  the  possibility  of  political  discontent 
arising  among  their  inhabitants.  ,The  restriction 
of  education  seemed  the  most  efficacious  means  to 
accomplish  this  end,  and  the  method  which  had  so 
fully  succeeded  and  with  such  disastrous  intellec- 
tual consequences  in  the  Peninsula  was  carried  out 
more  easily  and  more  completely  in  the  new  world. 
The  time  had  long  since  passed  when  Spain  was 
the  university  of  Europe ;  but  its  decadence  was 
in  no  way  to  be  ascribed  to  the  Spanish  people, 
nor  indeed  can  the  church  be  held  guilty  in  the  full 
measure  of  blame  that  it  has  pleased  many  modern 
authors  to  attribute  to  her.  It  is  to  Isabella  that 
Spain  owed  the  revival  of  the  Holy  Office  of  the  In- 
quisition, which  had  existed  in  Europe  from  the 
time  of  Justinian,  but  had  never  attained  eminence 
until  it  became  informed  with  the  intolerant  gen- 
ius of  the  Queen  of  Castile,  from  whose  time  it 
was  sustained  with  a  cruel  energy  of  terror  that 
finally  drew  a  protest  from  the  Pope  himself. 
Similarly,  the  Indgxi  Expurgatorius  did  not  origi- 
nate with  the  Council  of  Trent  but  with  the  King 
of  Spain,  who,  six  years  before  the  Tridentine 
Council  was  convened,  drew  up  a  list  of  prohibited 
books,  which  was  sanctioned  by  the  Pope  and  served 
as  a  model  for  later  interdictions.  But  the  Holy 
Office  and  the  Index  were  but  the  beginning  of  the 


16      THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

restrictions  which  were  imposed  upon  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  Colonies. 

Universities  were  founded  in  Lima,  Mexico, 
Quito,  Santiago  de  Chile  and  Guatemala,  where 
canon  and  colonial  law  was  taught  and  the  the- 
ology of  the  Roman  See.  These  institutions  were 
under  strict  monastic  discipline.  A  royal  decree 
commanded  that  all  the  youth  who  should  distin- 
guish themselves  in  study  be  compelled  to  take 
holy  orders ;  thus  the  university  became  the  vesti- 
bule of  the  Church. 

The  result  of  this  decree  was  naturally  to  rank 
the  matriculants  in  theology  above  those  of  the 
other  faculties.  It  was  a  favored  study.  The 
students  in  the  college  of  San  Martin  in  Lima  for 
many  years  pursued  no  course  but  theology,  and 
therefore  earned  the  unqualified  approbation  of 
Philip  IV  in  1626.  Still  even  such  universities  as 
these  occasioned  uneasiness  to  the  King,  who  per- 
haps realized  the  difficulty  and  uncertain  issue  of 
prescribing  definite  limits  to  the  discursive  activity 
of  healthy  young  minds.  This  uneasiness  is  re- 
flected in  many  of  the  laws  that  were  issued  for 
the  conduct  of  education  in  the  Colonies.  Before 
a  student  could  receive  a  degree  of  any  kind  he 
must  first  swear  allegiance  to  the  King  of  Spain. 
Lib.  iii,  Title  xxii,  L.  xv  provides  that  "no  one 
shall  be  permitted  to  receive  the  degree  of  Licen- 
tiate, Master  or  Doctor,  in  any  faculty,  nor  that 
of  Bachelor  in  Theology,  who  shall  not  first,  in  the 
presence  of  the  officer  who  confers  the  degree  and 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  17 

of  the  others  who  are  present,  swear  upon  the  mis- 
sal that  he  will  always  sustain,  believe  and  teach, 
that  the  Blessed  Ever- Virgin  Mary,  the  Mother  of 
God,  and  our  Lady,  was  conceived  without  original 
sin  in  the  first  instant  of  her  natural  existence. 
And  if  it  should  happen,  which  may  God  forbid, 
that  anyone  shall  refuse  to  take  this  oath,  then 
the  degree  shall  be  denied  him."  Charles  IV  re- 
plied to  a  petition  that  a  University  be  founded  in 
Merida,  by  refusing  the  request,  saying  that  "he 
did  not  consider  it  expedient  that  education  should 
become  general  in  the  Colonies."  On  the  21st  of 
August,  1812,  the  Chilean  Junta  recorded  the  fact 
that  until  that  day  there  had  never  been  a  school 
in  Santiago  de  Chile  where  girls  were  instructed. 
This  city  at  the  time  contained  about  fifty  thou- 
sand inhabitants ;  it  was  nearly  the  size  of  New 
York,  and  held  more  people  than  Philadelphia  and 
very  many  more  than  Boston.  On  the  18th  of 
June,  1813,  the  Junta  recorded  that  until  then, 
in  the  whole  kingdom  of  Chile,  there  had  never 
been  more  than  four  common  schools  for  children, 
and  those  at  different  periods  and  for  a  short 
time ;  and  the  population  of  Chile  was  over  four 
hundred  thousand,  a  much  larger  population  than 
that  of  Vermont  in  1910. 

The  ecclesiastical  censorship  of  books  had  been 
established  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Charles 
V,  in  the  hope  of  excluding  from  Spain  the  heret- 
ical doctrines  of  Luther.  Charles  had  adopted  it, 
with  added  measures  of  severity,  as  a  political 


18       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

weapon  against  the  Protestants  of  Germany  and 
the  Netherlands,  who  embodied  all  the  hostility 
with  which  the  Emperor's  favorite  projects  were 
threatened.  In  this  two-fold  form,  ecclesiastical 
and  political,  it  was  introduced  into  the  Spanish 
Colonies.  Having  passed  the  scrutiny  of  the  In- 
quisition, the  books  that  were  destined  for  Amer- 
ica were  also  obliged  to  pass  the  inspection  of  the 
board  of  Censors  appointed  by  the  Council  of  the 
Indies.  This  was  not  a  perfunctory  service.  The 
Censors  of  the  Council  received,  to  'be  sure,  no 
books  that  had  not  already  been  accepted  by  the 
Censors  of  the  Inquisition,  but  they  were  obliged  to 
read  thoroughly  and  to  report  minutely  upon  all 
the  books  that  were  to  be  sent  to  the  Colonies.  This 
second  inspection  must  then  have  been  required  for 
political  purposes,  since  no  subordinate  board 
would  be  suffered  to  revise  the  judgment  of  such 
Censors  as  the  Presidents  of  the  Royal  Audiences 
of  Valladolid  and  Granada,  the  Archbishops  of 
Toledo,  Seville,  Granada  and  Burgos  and  the 
Bishop  of  Salamanca,  who  constituted  the  General 
Board  of  Censors.  The  Censors  of  the  Council 
were  enjoined  not  to  permit  the  printing,  sale,  in- 
troduction or  possession,  of  books  treating  of  sec- 
ular or  mythical  matters,  or  fictitious  stories,  in 
the  Colonies.  They  were  obliged  to  examine  every 
copy, — "We  command  our  President  and  official 
judges  of  the  Casa  de  Contratacion  of  Seville, 
when  books,  approved  by  the  Censors,  are  offered 
for  transport  to  the  Colonies,  that  they  examine 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  19 

carefully  each  copy,  reporting  to  the  Council  the 
subject  of  which  it  treats,  and  accept  them  not 
until  after  such  examination."  Agents  of  the 
Council  renewed  this  strict  scrutiny  at  every 
Colonial  port  of  entry,  but  lest  any  undesirable 
volume,  through  some  oversight  or  casualty,  should 
happen  to  pass  undetected  through  this  multiplied 
inquisition,  Philip  II,  in  1556,  charged  the  Bishops 
of  the  Church  to  "exhaust  every  possible  means  to 
ascertain  whether  in  your  diocese  any  such  books 
are  to  be  found  and  to  seize  them  and  send  them 
to  the  Holy  Office  in  Spain  and  by  no  means  con- 
sent that  any  of  them  remain  in  your  province." 
In  the  improbable  case  that  books  might  be 
printed  in  the  Colonies  or  introduced  there  surrep- 
titiously for  sale  which,  not  having  passed  the 
various  official  Censors,  might  contain  matter 
which  the  King  would  not  approve,  it  was  further 
decreed,  that  "Every  person  who  shall  print  a 
book  in  the  Colony  or  bring  for  sale  books  pub- 
lished elsewhere,  without  having  received  the  royal 
license  and  the  Inquisitorial  sanction,  shall  be  pun- 
ished with  death  and  the  confiscation  of  his 
goods." 

The  Colonists  were  not  absolutely  forbidden  to 
print  books,  but  they  were  required  to  send  twenty 
copies  to  Spain  for  the  requisite  examination  and 
sanction  before  offering  them  for  sale  or  other- 
wise disposing  of  them.  The  Rector  of  the  Uni- 
versity in  Lima,  which  was  practically,  as  we  have 
just  seen,  a  school  of  theology,  having  claimed  the 


20       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

right  to  print  the  theses  of  the  students,  was  for- 
bidden to  do  so  as  being  "very  irregular."  1 

These  laws  show  the  attention  with  which  Spain 
regarded  the  education  of  her  Colonists,  but  she 
/  was  never  satisfied  that  her  decrees  were  being 
v  obeyed.  A  suspicion  haunted  the  royal  mind 
which  found  utterance  in  many  letters  on  this  sub- 
ject to  the  officials  of  his  several  Colonies.  In 
1686,  Charles  II,  prompted  by  this  vague  mis- 
trust, issued  an  order  to  the  then  Governor  of 
Chile,  Don  Jose  Garro, — "Inasmuch  as  my  coun- 
cil has  understood  that,  notwithstanding  the  well- 
known  enactments  of  myself  and  of  my  ancestors, 
now  in  glory,  many  books  have  been  published  in 
the  provinces  of  Chile,  without  my  having  received 
particular  and  especial  knowledge  thereof,  thus 
failing  to  conform  to  the  said  laws,  I  have  thought 
best  to  order  and  command  you,  as  I  now  do,  to 
remit  to  my  Council,  twenty  copies  of  every  book 
or  pamphlet  of  any  kind,  even  if  scientific  or  his- 
torical, that  may  have  been  printed  in  the  said 
provinces  of  Chile;  omitting  none,  nor  failing  to 
obey  scrupulously  under  any  pretext.  And  I  com- 
mand that  for  the  future  you  observe  this  order 
with  punctual  minuteness,"  etc.  This  order  was 
issued  on  the  8th  of  August,  1686,  and  in  Novem- 
ber, 1811,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years 

i  "La  universidad  de  Lima  pretendid  tener  derecho  para 
hacer  imprimir  los  libros  que  escriben  sus  matriculados ;  y 
esto  se  calific6  en  real  orden  de  10  de  agosto  de  1785  por 
muy  irregular."  Libro  I.,  Tit.  xxiv.  Ley  xv.  (Note.) 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  21 

later,  the  good  ship  Galloway  from  New  York  ar- 
rived in  the  harbor  of  Valparaiso,  bringing  the 
first  printing  press  that  Chile  ever  saw.  A  curious 
illustration  of  the  prurient  distrust  with  which 
Spain  regarded  her  Colonies. 

THE  ROYAL  CULT 

With  the  yellow  flag  of  Spain  flying  at  every 
port  and  establishing  a  permanent  quarantine  of 
her  provinces ;  and  with  their  intellectual  arrest 
secured  by  the  utmost  detail  of  repression,  the 
King  of  Spain,  partly  by  accident,  partly  by  in- 
tention, developed  a  third  potent  and  effectual 
source  of  power.  He  offered  himself  as  the  object 
of  a  kind  of  reverence  that  had  in  it  a  violent  strain 
of  fanaticism.  How  this  was  achieved,  how  a 
sentiment  was  fostered  into  a  passion,  how  the 
King  came  to  dispute  with  the  Almighty  for  the 
worship  of  his  people,  I  will  attempt  to  make  mani- 
fest. 

As  the  language  of  love  finds  its  loftiest  ex- 
pression in  terms  of  worship,  so  the  high  spirit  of 
loyalty  takes  for  its  ultimate  utterance  the  lan- 
guage of  devotion.  When  Virgil  says  of  Au- 
gustus, "I  will  always  regard  as  a  God  him  who 
has  endowed  us  with  these  blessings  of  peace," 
and  when  Horace  writes  to  Augustus  himself,  "To 
you,  while  still  living,  we  award  divine  honor  and 
rear  altars  where  vows  may  be  registered  in  your 

i"Deus  nobis  hace  otia  fecit, 

Namque  erit  ille  mihi  semper   deus." 


22       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

name;  confessing  that  as  the  past  has  beheld,  so 
the  future  will  disclose,  nothing  equal  to  you,"  l 
their  language  was  not  that  of  adulation,  of  which 
they  were  incapable,  and  which  would  have  been 
offensive  alike  to  them  and  to  their  Emperor,  but 
of  that  spirit  of  sincere  devotion  that  marks  the 
culmination  of  loyalty. 

So  when  Lope  de  Vega  inserts  the  King's  name 
in  the  creed  and  says,  "Despues  de  Dios,  creemos 
en  el  rei,"  2  the  same  spirit  moves  him,  the  spirit 
not  of  flattery  but  of  devotion.  They  all  uttered 
forth  the  sentiment  of  their  generation,  and  as  in 
Rome  this  spirit  added  a  new  god,  Divus  Augustus, 
to  the  Roman  Pantheon,  so  in  Spain  it  added  in 
effect  another  person  to  the  Trinity.  Spanish 
poetry  is  so  full  of  this  spirit  that  Lupercio  Leon- 
ardo de  Arjensola  seemed  almost  to  transcribe  the 
lofty  strain  of  Horace,  when  he  proposed  that 
Philip  II,  then  living,  should  be  canonized,  "in 
order  that  you  might  give  advice  to  the  Celestial 
Council  concerning  the  government  of  the  human 
race,  of  which  your  own  reign  would  be  the  best 
example;  in  order  that  the  storm-beaten  sailor, 
hopelessly  struggling  in  a  hostile  sea,  might  be 
saved  by  making  a  vow  to  visit  your  temple  and 
make  his  thank-offerings  there;  in  order  that  the 
ploughman,  covering  his  seed  in  the  earth,  might 

i  "Present!    tibi    matures    largimur    honores, 
Jurandasque  tuum  per  nomen  ponimus  aras, 
Nil   oriturum   alias,   nil   ortum   tale   fatentes." 
2  "After  God,  we  believe  in  the  King." 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  23 

beseech  you,  by  your  intercession  with  God,  to  bless 
and  multiply  it."  This  note  runs  through  Span- 
ish literature  for  three  centuries.  Don  Francisco 
Nunez  de  Pineda  y  Bascunan  addressed  Charles 
II,  whom  later  writers  called  "El  Imbecil," — 
"Thou  art  the  sun  that  doth  enlighten  us,  the  up- 
right judge  that  doth  direct  us,  the  pious  father 
that  doth  nourish  us."  Philip  II  was  the  Muse 
whom  Ercilla  invoked  in  his  Araucana.  The 
Jesuit  Ovalle  believed  that  America  had  been  cre- 
ated to  add  lustre  to  the  Spanish  crown. 

In  the  American  dependencies  of  Spain  this  sen- 
timent was  intensified  and  extended.  To  the  Colo- 
nists there  was  only  one  ruler  of  the  earth.  Their 
knowledge  of  the  world  can  be  compared  with 
that  of  a  child  brought  up  from  birth  in  a  nunnery, 
and  even  such  a  child  might  at  times  hear  a 
whisper  from  the  outer  world  which  could  never 
reach  the  Colonists  of  Talca,  Mendoza  or  Tucu- 
man.  They  knew  vaguely  that,  for  some  inscru- 
table reason,  other  nations  were  suffered  to  exist, 
nations  like  the  English,  who  lived  in  the  bleak 
north,  subsisted  on  piracy,  and  were  hateful  to 
God,  who  had  cast  them  out  of  His  Church  as  here- 
tics. Outside  of  these  wicked  people,  who  were 
given  over  utterly  to  the  Devil,  the  earth  was  the 
King's  and  the  fulness  thereof. 

There  was  scarcely  any  distinction  in  their 
minds  between  the  Divine  Majesty  and  the  Royal 
Majesty;  one  was  the  title  applied  to  the  King  of 
Heaven  and  the  other  to  the  King  of  the  earth. 


24       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

We  cannot  properly  regard  the  Spanish  Colo- 
nists in  the  same  light  with  their  European  con- 
temporaries ;  they  knew  less  of  England  and  France 
than  the  Romans  in  the  days  of  the  Republic  knew 
of  the  Picts  and  the  Parthians.  Their  seclusion 
was  absolute  and  their  ignorance  of  the  world, 
beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  their  little  parish,  was 
complete. 

The  Spanish-Americans  believed,  then,  that 
God,  having  reserved  to  himself  the  government 
of  heaven,  had  entrusted  to  the  King  of  Spain 
the  temporal  government  of  the  earth.  This  be- 
lief was  enhanced  by  the  action  of  the  Holy  See, 
which  delivered  into  the  King's  hands  the  spirit- 
ual supervision  and  control  of  his  transmarine  sub- 
jects, so  that  Philip  and  Charles  held  the  peculiar 
relation  toward  their  Colonies  which  resulted  from 
the  union  in  the  same  royal  person,  of  the  su- 
preme control  of  both  the  temporal  and  the  spirit- 
ual interests  of  their  transmarine  subjects. 

This  concession,  which  established  the  depend- 
ence of  the  Church  on  the  King,  was  destined  later 
to  become  a  source  of  much  regret  and  sorrow  to 
the  Church,  when,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  the  State, 
having  succeeded  to  the  King  and  inherited  his 
rights,  brought  into  perilous  question  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  Pope. 

The  devotion  of  the  Colonists  to  their  King  was 
fostered  carefully  by  His  Catholic  Majesty. 
Nothing  that  would  stimulate  their  admiring  awe 
was  neglected.  No  sailor  was  allowed  to  embark 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  25 

in  the  fleet  for  the  Colonies  without  first  renewing 
his  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  King  and  without 
having  confessed  and  partaken  of  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist. (Lib.  ix.  Tit.  xxx.  L.  liv.)  The 
"Procession  of  the  Royal  Standard"  was  made  the 
great  annual  festival  of  the  Colony.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  Cabildo,  in  ceremonial  dress,  on  horse- 
back and  attended  by  a  troop  of  cavalry,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  house  of  the  Royal  Standard  Bearer 
(Alferez  Real),  and  escorted  him  to  the  Gover- 
nor's palace.  Here  that  functionary  was  waiting 
with  the  Judges  of  the  Royal  Audience,  and  on 
the  arrival  of  the  procession  they  came  forth  and 
took  their  places  in  it.  The  Alferez  rode  at  the 
Governor's  left  and  the  Regent  of  the  Royal  Audi- 
ence at  his  right.  The  procession  passed  through 
the  streets,  crowded  with  spectators,  and  entered 
the  plaza,  wkmf  salutes  were  fired  and  the  bands 
played.  Thence  they  took  their  way  to  the  Ca- 
thedral, where  Mass  was  sung,  the  Standard  was 
blessed  and  a  sermon  was  preached,  while  the 
Alferez  with  the  Standard  sat  in  the  seat  of  honor 
with  a  cushion  at  his  feet.  Afterwards  there  were 
feasting  and  rejoicing  throughout  the  city,  races 
were  held,  a  bullfight  took  place  in  the  plaza,  and 
at  night  the  whole  country  was  illuminated  with 
bonfires  and  rockets. 

The  Royal  Seal  was  venerated  with  the  same 
devotion  as  if  it  were  a  piece  of  the  true  cross. 
When  a  royal  decree  was  received,  the  Royal  Audi- 
ence must  be  summoned,  and  while  all  stood  un- 


26       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

covered  before  the  King's  message,  they  swore  in 
unison,  as  if  they  were  chanting  the  Creed,  to 
obey  it  as  if  it  were  the  command  of  God.  This 
formula  was  prescribed  by  the  King  himself,  who 
forbade  the  Governor  to  open  a  royal  letter  ex- 
cept in  the  presence  of  the  Royal  Audience  and 
with  the  formalities  which  I  have  in  part  described. 
The  royal  officials  were  so  far  above  the  colonists 
that  they  were  regarded  as  beings  of  a  superior 
order ;  how  immeasurably  above  the  ordinary  at- 
tributes of  humanity  must  His  Catholic  Majesty 
have  appeared  to  the  simple  minds  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, when  such  lofty  personages  as  the  Governor 
and  the  Judges  of  the  Royal  Audience  prostrated 
themselves  before  a  letter  from  the  throne! 

This  sentiment  did  not  wane  as  century  followed 
century.  It  was  inculcated  in  infancy,  it  was  fos- 
tered by  habitual  obedience,  it  was  increased  by 
transmission  from  generation  to  generation.  His 
supreme  and  unquestioned  authority  in  all  mat- 
ters civil  and  ecclesiastical,  his  powerful  han4  that 
weighed  so  heavily  upon  them  at  the  immense  dis- 
tance of  seven  thousand  miles,  their  belief  that  they 
were  born  into  the  world  expressly  to  become  his 
subjects  and  slaves,  combined  with  their  ignorance 
of  the  world  to  invest  the  King  with  a  divine  sanc- 
tity and  awe.  Amunategui  has  found  a  good  ex- 
pression for  this  sentiment.  He  calls  it  the 
"Dogma  of  the  Royal  Majesty." 

It  culminated  in  a  passionate  loyalty  which  bor- 
rowed the  livery  of  heaven  for  the  worship  of  the 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  27 

King  of  Spain.  On  July  11,  1809,  the  Intendente 
of  the  Province  of  Coquimbo,  having  procured 
from  some  private  and  personal  source  the  copy  of 
a  portrait  of  Ferdinand,  issued  a  proclamation  in 
which  he  informed  the  people  of  his  province  in 
glowing  terms  of  its  arrival,  and  appointed  the 
13th  of  July  for  a  day  of  feasting  and  rejoicing. 

"Receive  it  as  if  it  were  the  King  himself;  offer  it 
anew  your  vows  and  faithful  service;  hasten  to  throw 
yourselves  before  its  royal  feet,  full  of  the  profound- 
est  reverence;  that  it  may  recognize  in  you  the  devo- 
tion that  you  profess,  and  that  you  may  show  your- 
selves worthy  of  the  incomparable  honor  of  being  the 
slaves  of  the  greatest  and  most  beloved  of  monarchs, 
the  peerless  Ferdinand.  Cover  the  walls  of  your 
houses  with  decorations  and  fill  the  streets  with  flow- 
ers that  the  idol  of  our  hearts  may  be  honored. 

"JOAQUIN  PEREZ  DE  URIONDO." 

The  path  that  led  from  Coquimbo,  the  port,  to 
La  Serena,  the  Capital  of  the  Province,  was  not 
properly  speaking  a  road, — it  was  rather  a  pass- 
age or  a  way,  but  during  the  two  days  before 
the  fete,  hundreds  of  citizens  carried  sand  and 
stones  in  bags  and  baskets  and  filled  up  the  holes, 
and  covered  the  runlets  with  wooden  bridges,  and 
prepared  the  path  to  the  city,  that  it  might  meet 
the  royal  approval.  "When  the  day  arrived," 
the  Notary,  Pedro  Nolasco  de  las  Penas,  wrote 
to  the  Junta  Central  under  date  of  July  22nd, 
"the  portrait,  surrounded  by  cushions,  was  placed 


28       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

in  a  carriage,  which  was  festooned  with  gilded 
ribbons  and  filled  with  flowers,  and  drawn  by  eight 
men,  to  whom,  after  much  dispute,  the  honor  had 
been  finally  awarded,  along  the  new  road  to  the 
city.  Incense  was  burned,  the  devout  people 
kneeled  as  the  car  passed,  the  priests  in  gown  and 
vestment  met  the  sacred  image  on  its  passage," — 
really,  if  Clio  were  not  insensitive  to  shame,  she 
would  blush  to  record  the  tale  of  Pedro  Nolasco 
de  las  Penas.  However,  the  portrait  at  length 
reached  the  Cathedral,  where  the  Dean  and  Canons 
received  it  and  "with  the  utmost  conceivable  solem- 
nity and  splendor  of  ceremony,"  it  was  placed,  with 
many  prayers  and  prostrations,  upon  the  high 
altar.  Then  a  Te  Deum  was  sung,  while  salvos 
of  artillery  shook  the  church  and  the  people 
shouted  aloud  their  joy  and  filled  the  plaza  with 
Vivas.  For  three  days  and  nights  the  celebration 
continued.  With  no  greater  reverence  could  they 
have  received  a  holy  fragment  of  the  True  Cross, 
or  a  finger  of  the  Blessed  Bartholomew.  This 
was  the  apotheosis  of  loyalty  and  devotion. 

To  such  a  people  the  thought  of  independence 
would  have  seemed  profanation.  To  withdraw 
themselves  from  the  King's  favor  and  protection 
would  have  seemed  as  horrible  as  to  withdraw 
themselves  voluntarily  from  the  favor  and  protec- 
tion of  God.  It  would  have  been  more  than  a 
sacrilege — it  would  have  been  a  punishment  too 
great  for  any  crime.  Liberty  was  the  last  thing 
they  desired,  if  liberty  meant  for  them  to  be 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  29 

thrust  from  the  service  of  the  King,  and  to  be  cut 
off,  like  the  heretic  and  piratical  English,  from 
the  service  of  God.  So  Spain's  extremity  excited 
bitter  grief  and  sympathy  among  her  Colonists, 
but  no  one  entertained  any  open  purpose  of  sep- 
aration. Men  there  were  in  the  Colonies  from 
whose  eyes  the  scales  had  fallen ;  men  like  Miranda, 
Rozas,  Hidalgo,  Fretes  and  O'Higgins,  who  fell 
in  love  with  Equality,  Justice  and  Freedom  when 
those  three  ladies  wore  the  mask  of  treason  and 
hid  for  fear  from  the  eyes  of  men ;  but  as  yet  their 
hope  was  faint  and  their  purpose  silent. 

REVENUE 

Simultaneously  with  this  development  of  Power 

through  the  three  channels  of  Isolation,  Repression 
and  King  Worship,  the  real  purpose  and  aim  of 
the  Spanish  Court  was  being  systematically  and 
completely  pursued.  This  purpose  was  Revenue, 
— that  exploitation  of  the  Colonies,  which  the 
Conde  de  Aranda,  in  his  letter  to  the  Conde  de 
Floridablanca,  described  without  unnecessary  cir- 
cumlocution in  the  picturesque  style  that  marks 
all  his  State-papers.  A  hundred  passages  could 
be  cited  where  the  same  purpose  is  stated  less 
frankly  indeed  but  not  less  convincingly.  I  have 
neglected  to  allude,  in  the  consideration  of  this 
matter,  to  the  spoils  of  the  initial  conquest.  The 
histories  of  Robertson  and  Prescott  at  least  are 
universally  known,  and  reproduce,  more  or  less 
accurately,  the  earlier  annals  and  narratives  of  the 


30       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Spanish  historians.  My  purpose  is  to  unfold  in 
part  the  organized  system  of  exploitation  through 
which  for  some  centuries  the  King  of  Spain  di- 
verted to  his  royal  purse  the  enormous  sums  which 
impoverished  and  ruined  his  country,  and  heaped 
up  for  himself  in  his  Colonies,  wrath  against  a 
day  of  wrath. 

The  history  of  Spanish  Colonial  commerce  is 
largely  a  history  of  the  Casa  de  Contratacion  de 
lasMtndias,  the  Agency  of  Colonial  Commerce, 
which  for  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  years 
possessed  a  monopoly  of  Colonial  trade.  The  Casa 
de  Contratacion  was  founded  by  a  royal  decree 
issued  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  at  Alcala  on 
January  20,  150&  In  1717,  Patino,  who  has  been 
called  the  Colbert  of  Spain,  caused  it  to  be  re- 
moved to  Cadiz,  where  its  operations  could  be 
more  satisfactorily  controlled  and  more  economi- 
cally administered.  In  1778,  King  Charles  III, 
among  many  important  reforms  in  Spain's  trans- 
marine service,  withdrew  this  monopoly  and  ex- 
tended the  privilege  to  other  Spanish  ports.  On 
the  18th  of  June,  1790,  the  Casa  de  Contratacion 
was  by  a  royal  decree,  abolished,  or  as  the  Span- 
iards say,  "extinguished."  With  this  prelimin- 
ary synopsis  of  the  changes  that  the  Casa  under- 
went in  the  course  of  many  years,  I  will  explain  the 
methods  which  it  followed  in  its  purpose  to  regu- 
late commerce. 

Every  nation  has  a  direct  interest  in  monopoliz- 
ing, if  possible,  its  Colonial  trade.  In  order  to 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  31 

simplify  this  attempt  in  Spain  and  to  protect  it 
perfectly,  it  was  enacted  that  no  vessels  could  clear 
for  the  Colonies  but  from  Seville  only.  Barcelona, 
Malaga,  Valencia  and  Cartagena  could  not  legiti- 
mately engage  in  Colonial  commerce.  The  edict 
of  the  King  amounted  to  an  effective  blockade  of 
these  ports.  It  was  a  ]3ort-bill  that  was  not  re-  ^ 
sented  by  the  Spaniards  oftposelii'ties,  who,  with- 
out a  protest,  saw  their  maritime  trade  with  the 
Colonies  rated  by  the  law  with  smuggling.  In 
Seville,  the  houses  that  could  engage  in  transmarine 
commerce  formed  a  close  body  or  Exchange.  They 
alone  possessed  the  coveted  privilege. 

This  was  not  the  only  instance  of  the  erection 
of  a  trading  monopoly.  In  England,  the  East 
India  Company  possessed  similar  privileges  under 
a  royal  charter,  whose  date  ran  back  to  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  and  which  maintained  its  monopoly 
practically  intact  until  1680.  But  the  Spanish 
Company  continued  to  control  Colonial  commerce 
beyond  the  harbor  of  Cadiz.  The  merchandise 
was  sent  only  to  those  merchants  in  the  Colonies 
who  were  matriculated  in  tlje  Casa,  and,  as  the 
Company  selected  these  and  appointed  them,  they 
became  simply  the  agents  of  the  Casa.  No  Colo- 
nial resident  could  send  an  order  for  merchandise 
to  Spain,  even  if  he  included  the  money  with  his 
order,  except  through  one  of  these  agents  of 
the  Casa;  not  until  June  15,  1780,  was  the  disabil- 
ity removed.  Thus  the  Casa  not  only  controlled  v* 
the  trade,  but  the  Colonists  were  compelled  to  buy 


32       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

what  the  Casa  saw  fit  to  send  to  them,  at  the  price 
that  the  Casa  elected  to  exact.  The  importance 
of  this  unrestricted  monopoly,  which  gave  the  Casa 
the  same  power  over  the  commerce  of  the  Colonies 
that  the  Council  possessed  over  their  laws,  ;would 
seem  to  have  been  immeasurably  greater  than  that 
of  the  English  Company,  and  should,  in  hands  as 
unscrupulous  as  those  of  the  members  of  the  Casa, 
have  rolled  up  fortunes  compared  with  which  that 
of  Sir  Josiah  Child  would  have  seemed  penury. 
To  establish  beyond  controversy  the  authority  of 
the  Casa,  Charles  I  on  November  17,  1553,  issued 
a  decree  that  "in  the  Indies  the  regulations  pro- 
mulgated by  the  Casa  de  Contratacion  shall  be 
observed  and  obeyed  equally  with  other  laws." 

In  reality  the  Casa  was  but  the  Commercial 
branch  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  which  super- 
vised and  controlled  all  matters  pertaining  to  the 
Colonies ;  and,  while  seeming  to  have  a  free  hand, 
it  was  wholly  under  the  control  of  the  Council. 
Membership  in  the  Casa  was  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Council  and  was  indeed  obtained  by 
purchase  from  them;  the  purchase  price  of  mem- 
bership being  calculated,  after  a  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  books  of  the  Casa,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
transfer  the  profits  to  the  Council  in  advance. 
The  supervision  over  the  affairs  of  the  Casa  was 
constant  and  minute,  so  tkat  the  Casa  became  the 
mercantile  agency  of  the  Council, — its  trade 
name.  Thus  at  the  center  of  the  web  sat  the  Coun- 
cil, and  in  the  middle  of  the  Council,  the  King. 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  33 

Seville  was  the  Custom  House  of  America.  It 
had  its  clerks  in  every  port  of  entry  of  the  Colo- 
nies, but  they  had  no  independent  authority,  and 
scarcely  any  discretionary  power.  The  Council 
decreed  an  export  duty  of  five  per  cent,  on  all 
goods  shipped  to  the  Colonies  and  an  import  duty 
of  ten  per  cent,  on  the  same  goods  when  they 
reached  their  destination.  This  tax  was  the  Almo- 
jarifazgo.  "Between  Spain  and  the  Colonies,  be- 
tween any  two  Colonies,  between  any  two  ports  in 
the  same  province,  whether  by  sea  or  land,  every- 
thing that  was  carried  for  sale,  use  or  consump- 
tion, even  to  the  ship's  provisions  that  carried 
it,"  paid  the  Almo j  arif azgo  to  the  royal  treasury. 
Moreover,  after  the  Almo  j  arif  azgo  of  five  per  cent, 
had  been  paid  according  to  the  valuation  in  Cadiz, 
the  merchandise  was  again  valued  according  to  the 
price  that  the  Casa  de  Contratacion  had  established 
in  the  Colonial  port  to  which  it  was  sent,  and  again 
paid  its  dues  of  ten  per  cent,  on  this  new  and  arbi- 
trary valuation.  Under  this  system  not  only  was 
all  foreign  competition  eliminated  but  there  was 
no  rivalry  among  the  merchants  of  Seville  them- 
selves, who  proceeded  under  a  fixed  mutual  agree- 
ment, and  profited  equally  under  the  law,  like  a 
syndicate.  Thus  while  an  increase  of  three  hun- 
dred to  four  hundred  per  cent,  in  valuation  between 
Cadiz  and  Callao  was  usual,  it  was  not  uncommon 
for  the  value  of  merchandise  to  be  increased  nine 
hundred  per  cent,  between  the  two  points,  which 
would  make  the  import  duty  at  Callao  nearly  equal 


34       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

to  the  original  valuation  of  the  merchandise  at 
Cadiz. 

Some  kinds  of  merchandise  paid  even  much 
higher  duties  than  this.  Cheap  table  knives,  for 
instance,  which  sold  for  four  reals  the  dozen  in  the 
English  market,  brought  a  price  of  thirty-two 
dollars  the  dozen  in  the  Colonies  or  sixty-four  times 
the  original  cost.  A  jar  of  Olive  Oil  brought 
twenty  dollars  in  America  and  a  jug  of  rum  fifty 
dollars.  When  the  Casa  could  exact  such  pay- 
ments as  these,  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  prohibited, 
under  severe  penalties,  the  planting  of  the  vine  and 
olive  in  America.  To  protect  this  monstrous 
monopoly  by  prohibiting  competition  with  other 
nations  the  law  was  enacted  on  December  15,  1558, 
which  I  have  already  cited  on  page  11. 

The  effect  of  these  measures  was  to  enhance  in- 
credibly the  value  of  commodities  to  the  Colonists. 
Articles  of  wearing  apparel  became  heirlooms  to 
be  handed  down  by  will  from  father  to  son.  In 
1620,  "Francisco  de  Riberos  bequeathed  to  his 
son  Hernando,  his  trousers  of  black  velvet  which 
he  declared  in  his  will  had  cost  him  six  hundred 
dollars,  a  sum  equal  to  at  least  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  to-day,  and  they  were  without  any  expen- 
sive ornaments  !  A  century  later  in  Mexico  a  plain 
coat  of  European  cloth  cost  a  hundred  dollars." 

But  the  Casa  de  Contratacion  did  not  forget 
that  buying  is  as  much  a  part  of  commerce  as 
selling,  and  having  sold  their  wares  at  the  extor- 
tionate prices  that  their  monopoly  empowered  them 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  35 

to  exact,  they  had  no  scruple  in  buying  the  Colo- 
nial products  at  a  price  so  low  as  to  discourage 
effort.  Agriculture  was  abandoned  and  Chile  be- 
came a  pasture  merely.  Immense  herds  of  cattle 
roamed  wild  through  the  upland  valleys  and 
evaded  taxes  by  claiming  no  owners.  They  were 
hunted  like  wild  beasts  and  for  many  years  the 
only  articles  that  Chile  offered  for  export  were 
their  hides  and  fat,  which  were  carried  over  the 
mountains  on  muleback  and  brought  to  Lima 
through  Tucuman,  which  before  the  erection  of 
Buenos  Ayres  into  a  Viceroyalty,  was  a  part  of 
Chile. 

— £HE  FLOTILLA 

As  Seville  was  the  Peninsular  seat  of  Colonial 
trade,  so  Vera^Cruz  was  established  as  the  port  of 
Mexico,  (then  called  New  Spain),  and  Portobello 
as  the  port  of  entry  for  South  America.  In  each 
of  the  American  ports  a  close  supervision  was 
maintained  over  all  merchandise  brought  from 
Spain  or  offered  for  carriage  to  the  Peninsula. 
Two  fleets  were  sent  yearly  from  Cadiz  to  the 
Colonies.  In  1561  a  royal  decree  was  issued  by 
Philip  II.  (Lib.  ix.  Tit.  xiii.  L.  i.)  "In  order 
to  further  the  development  and  security  of  Colonial 
commerce  and  navigation,  we  hereby  establish  and 
command  that  every  year  an  Armada  and  two 
fleets,  be  fitted  out  in  the  River  of  Seville  and 
Cadiz ;  one  fleet  for  New  Spain  and  one  for  South 
America,  to  be  attended  by  the  Armada  in  going 


36       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

and  returning."  Another  law  fixed  the  date  of 
sailing  for  the  Colonial  fleets  in  the  month  of 
March.  The  total  amount  of  merchandise  that 
the  King's  decree  permitted  these  fleets  to  carry 
was  twenty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  tons,  but 
it  appears  from  a  memorial  addressed  to  Charles 
II  by  Ossorio,  that  only  one  year  during  the 
whole  seventeenth  century  witnessed  the  departure 
of  a  fleet  from  Cadiz  with  this  maximum  burden. 

But  not  every  fleet  that  left  Cadiz  reached  its 
destination,  as  the  records  of  the  British  Marine 
show  (although  the  British  vessels  preferred  to 
attack  the  fleet  on  its  return  to  Spain  bearing 
home  the  spoils  from  its  Colonies)  ;  while  not  every 
year  saw  a  fleet  leave  Cadiz  for  the  new  world. 
From  1590  to  1595,  Spain  was  visited  by  the  * 
plague,  which  interrupted  its  commerce,  and  many  ^ 
a  year  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies saw  the  Colonial  fleet  detained  in  Cadiz  by 
the  English  cruisers ;  so  that  in  the  period  from 
1580  to  1700  there  were  forty-seven  years  when  no 
fleet  sailed  for  Mexico  and  forty-ni^e  when  none 
cleared  for  South  America. 

These  trading  fleets  consisted  of  ten  or  fifteen 
vessels,  averaging  two  hundred  to  three  hundred 
tons  capacity,  and  each  fleet  was  attended  by 
four  or  five  vessels  of  war.  The  largest  cargo  that 
during  the  seventeenth  century  was  carried  by  the 
two  fleets  in  a  single  year  was  twenty-seven  thou- 
sand five  hundred  tons,  of  which,  according  to 
Ossorio's  memorial,  twenty-six  thousand  tons  rep- 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  37 

resented  merchandise  that  had  been  imported  into 
Spain  from  France  and  England. 

Mignet  says  that  "of  eleven  millions  dollars' 
worth  of  merchandise  sent  from  Cadiz  to  the  Span- 
ish Colonies,  at  least  ten  millions  represented  goods 
of  foreign  manufacture;  while  of  every  seventeen 
millions,  that  came  into  Cadiz,  which  was  about 
the  usual  annual  amount  of  gold,  silver,  precious 
stones  and  merchandise  which  the  Colonies  sent 
back  to  Spain,  more  than  fifteen  millions  a  year 
came  into  the  hands  of  the  traders  and  manufac- 
turers of  Genoa,  Paris,  London  and  Hamburg." 

Meanwhile,  in  anticipation  of  the  coming  of  the 
Colonial  fleet,  Portobello  became  the  centre  of  great 
activity.  Vessels  from  all  the  Pacific  Coast  filled 
theTiarbor  of  Panama,  and  the  road  to  Portobello 
was  choked  with  mules  and  wagons  bearing  the 
wealth  of  the  new  world,  their  annual  tribute  to 
the  King  of  Spain.  In  Portobello  the  exchange 
and  transfer  of  commodities  lasted  forty  days,  a 
period  also  fixed  by  royal  decree.  There  seems 
to  be  only  one  instance  recorded  when  this  term  of 
forty  days  was  exceeded  and  Admiral  Chacon  ac- 
ceded to  the  urgent  requests  of  the  traders  to 
prolong  the  fair  for  a  few  days  at  a  cost  to  them 
of  two  thousand  dollars  a  day,  which  sum  went  to 
the  royal  treasury.  The  only  fair  of  recent  times 
that  can  be  compared  with  the  fair  of  Portobello 
is  that  at  Nijni-Novgorod  which  occurs  annually 
and  continues  for  the  same  period  of  time.  It  is 
estimated  that  trading  to  the  amount  of  ninety 


38       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

million  dollars  is  done  at  the  Russian  fair,  but 
Alvarez  de  Ossorio,  whom  I  have  previously 
quoted,  says  that  at  Portobello — "The  years  of 
least  concurrence  saw  two  hundred  million  dollars 
in  gold,  silver,  pearls,  emeralds  and  other  prod- 
ucts of  the  Indies  brought  to  Portobello."  l 

Not  all  of  this  sum  went  to  the  royal  treas- 
ury. It  represented  the  annual  trade  of  South 
America  and  Spain,  but  the  sums  that  went  to  the 
royal  purse  were  still  enormous.  In  1556,  the 
royal  exchequer  received  "seven  millions  dollars 
in  gold  and  one  million  dollars'  worth  of  to- 
bacco, cochineal,  vanilla,  cacao  and  other 
American  fruits."  In  1625,  Philip  the  IV  received 
sixteen  million  dollars  as  his  immediate  share  of 
the  receipts  of  the  Colonial  trade  for  that  year. 

During  the  time  of  the  fair,  the  King's  officers 
busied  themselves  with  their  invoices  and  receipts, 
with  their  buying  or  exchange  of  merchandise  and 
with  levying  the  charges  of  transportation, 
freights,  duties  and  taxes  of  various  kinds.  It  was 
their  custom  to  accept  the  simple  verbal  state- 
ment of  the  persons  who  offered  merchandise  for 
sale  or  shipment,  in  bales,  boxes,  or  packages. 
No  examination  was  made,  no  box  or  case  was 
opened,  no  oath  was  required.  And  yet,  in  a 
period  of  time  covering  two  centuries,  and  in  the 
course  of  an  annual  trade  amounting  to  many 
millions,  there  is  only  one  recorded  instance  of 

i  "el  ano  que  menos  vienen,  son  doscientos  millones  de 
pesos  en  pastos  de  oro  i  plata,  perlas,  esmeraldas  i  demas 
frutos  de  las  Indias." 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  39 

fraud.  If  mistakes  were  afterwards  discovered, 
restitution  was  faithfully  made,  even  if  the  error 
were  not  detected  for  years. 

The  tax  that  was  next  imposed  on  Commerce  was 
the  Averia  or  insurance  against  loss,  damage, 
shrinkage  or  other  deterioration ;  and  which  varied 
from  year  to  year  from  two  per  cent,  to  twenty-one 
per  cent.  This  was  a  tribute  to  English  prowess, 
and  rose  or  fell  as  war  or  peace  with  England 
happened  to  obtain.  In  1689,  the  Duke  de  la 
Pilata  embodied  in  a  memorial  to  the  King,  a 
calculation  which  was  intended  to  support  an 
argument  in  favor  of  creating  a  crown  monopoly 
of  paper.  The  invoice  which  served  as  a  basis 
for  calculation  was  a  package  containing  twenty- 
four  reams  of  paper. 

Vicuna-Mackenna,  in  his  "Historia  de  Valpa- 
raiso," copies  the  Duke's  calculation  as  follows : — - 

Original  cost $21.13 

Export  duties,  Seville    1.25 

Loading  and  other  duties 6-50 

Averia    2.75 

Carriage — Cadiz-Portobello    ...  '13.25 

License  and  duties,  Portobello 9-75 

Carriage  to  Panama 20.87 

Carriage  to  Callao 12.00 

Duties   Callao    5.50 

Carriage    Valparaiso    12.00 

Duties    Valparaiso    5.00 

Carriage  to  Santiago 3.00 

$113.00 


40       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Original  cost $21.13 

Duties,  etc 30.75 

Carriage    61.12 

$113.00 

These  are  merely  the  commercial  impositions. 
An  excise  tax,  the  Alcabala,1  was  levied  on  all  in- 
heritances or  transfers  of  property,  on  all  sales 
and  business  transactions  whether  public  or  pri- 
vate, and  on  the  barter  or  exchange  of  commodi- 
ties between  any  two  individuals.  Fixed  at  first, 
June  7,  1576,  at  two  per  cent.,  it  was  afterwards 
established  at  four  per  cent.,  and  there  remained 
until  July,  1776,  when  it  was  increased  to  six 
per  cent.  Even  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent,  this 
impost,  while  excessive,  does  not  seem  prohibitive, 
but  it  continued  to  be  imposed  on  each  transfer 
of  the  article  taxed,  until  according  to  the  Viceroy 
of  Peru,  Don  Jose  de  Manso,  it  often  amounted, 
on  successive  sales,  before  reaching  its  ultimate 
owner,  to  a  tax  of  fifty  or  sixty  per  cent.  It  has 
been  estimated  that  the  Alcabala  averaged  thirty- 
five  per  cent,  on  all  merchandise  imported. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  Almojarifazgo  and 
the  Alcabala  came  the  Diezmos,  or  tithes.  ^  Selden 
traces  the  origin  of  tithes  back  to  Melchizedec,  but 
from  the  time  of  the  Mosaic  law  it  has  always 

i  The  Alcabala  (gabelle)  was  not  unknown  to  France, 
where,  however,  it  was  confined  to  a  tax  on  salt,  which 
produced  during  the  administration  of  Mazarin  a  revenue 
to  the  state  of  twenty-seven  million  livres  yearly. 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  41 

been  levied  for  the  support  of  the  clergy.  By  the 
bull  of  Alexander  VI  (who  was  himself  a  Span- 
iard, of  the  House  of  Borgia,),  dated  March  17, 
1501,  the  ecclesiastical  authority  over  America 
was  vested  in  the  King  of  Spain  and  continued  to 
be  exercised  by  him  until  the  fall  of  the  royal 
power  in  South  America.  The  King  filled  the 
vacant  Bishoprics  as  well  as  the  inferior  offices 
of  the  hierarchy,  and  collected  the  dues  of  the 
Church,  the  tithes. 

"Inasmuch  as  the  ecclesiastical  tithes  collected 
in  the  Colonies  belong  to  us  by  apostolic  conces- 
sion of  the  Holy  See,"  begins  the  chapter  on 
"Diezmos"  in  the  "Recopilacion  de  las  Indias," 
(Lib.  I.  Title  xvi.  law  I.),  "we  command  the 
officers  of  our  royal  Hacienda  of  said  provinces  to 
collect  and  receive  all  such  tithes  as  are  due  and 
payable  from  those  inhabitants  engaged  in  hus- 
bandry or  the  raising  of  stock."  "Of  ten  meas- 
ures, one,  and  of  those  things  that  cannot  be 
measured,  of  every  ten,  one ;  and  this  must  be  paid 
without  taking  out  what  may  be  required  for  seed 
and  without  allowing  for  rent  or  other  expense 
whatever. — Moreover,  the  said  tithes  must  be  paid 
of  lambs,  goats,  pigs,  ducks,  geese,  chickens  and 
pigeons,  even  of  such  as  are  eaten  in  the  families 
of  those  raising  them,  and  must  be  paid  at  the 
time  when  such  animals  may  subsist  without  their 
parents. — Swarms  of  bees,  milk,  butter,  cheese  and 
wool,  all  fruits,  all  live  stock,  of  ten  measures,  one, 
or  of  every  ten,  one,  or  of  every  five,  one-half." 


42       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

In  this  and  the  following  laws  everything  is  specif- 
ically enumerated  that  could  produce  its  kind  or 
grow  from  seed.  The  annual  value  of  the  tithes 
in  the  diocese  of  Santiago  alone,  was  estimated  at 
two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  dollars,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  agents  of  the  Casa  de 
Contratacion  had  reduced  the  profits  of  agricul- 
ture to  a  point  where  the  lands  lay  fallow  and 
wheat  was  imported  from  Peru.  A  portion  of  the 
avails  from  this  tax  was  used  in  paying  the  sala- 
ries of  the  priests  and  in  the  repairs  and  mainte- 
nance of  the  churches,  and  the  rest  went  to  the 
King's  purse. 

The  profits  arising  from  tithes  were  so  impor- 
tant that  a  decree  was  issued  by  the  King  "that 
no  resident  of  any  city,  town  or  village  shall  leave 
his  place  of  abode  without  a  certificate  from  the 
magistrate  that  he  has  paid  what  tithes  are  due 
from  him  and  that  none  remains  unpaid." — (Don 
Carlos,  October  20,  1521.— Lib.  I.  Tit.  xvi. 
1.  xv). 

The  royal  fifths,  quintos  reales,  had  always  been 
due  the  King  from  ransom  and  the  spoils  of  suc- 
cessful warfare.  In  America  the  tax  was  extended 
to  the  proceeds  of  all  mining  operations.  Many 
of  the  most  valuable  mines  and  mining  districts 
were  royal  property  and  poured  their  undiminished 
flood  of  gold  into  the  royal  exchequer;  but  of  all 
other  properties  the  fifth  of  the  gross  output  be- 
longed to  the  King.  "Of  all  gold  and  silver  ex- 
tracted from  mines  or  from  placers,  the  fifth  shall 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  43 

be  first  taken  out  for  the  royal  treasury;  of  gold, 
silver,  pearls,  or  precious  stones,  taken  in  battle, 
siege  or  ransom,  the  fifth  must  be  similarly  given 
without  any  discount  for  the  King's  use;  any  pre- 
cious metal  will  be  confiscated  that  is  not  marked 
in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that  the  Royal  Fifth 
has  been  paid.  Of  amber,  lead,  tin,  copper,  iron 
and  all  other  metals,  the  Royal  Fifth  must  be 
paid  into  the  Royal  Treasury."  The  only  method 
of  extracting  ores  was  by  amalgamation,  and  mer- 
cury was  a  branch  of  the  Royal  monopoly,  the 
price  of  which  was  fixed  (Lib.  viii.  Tit.  xxiii. 
1.  viii.)  at  sixty  ducats  per  quintal  in  Mexico, 
which  would  be  the  equivalent  perhaps  to-day  of 
about  thirty  dollars  the  pound.  This  price  was 
fixed  by  Philip  III.,  October  17,  1617,  and  by 
Philip  IV.,  July  13,  16&7.  Other  monopolies 
were  playing  cards,  tobacco,  salt,  pepper  and 
spices,  stamped  paper  and  the  postal  revenues. 
In  the  summer,  ice  was  a  royal  monopoly  and  the 
officers  of  the  Royal  Treasury  sold,  for  the  King's 
account,  the  snow  that  was  brought  from  the  Cor- 
dillera to  refresh  the  residents  of  Lima  during  the 
hot  weather.  The  profits  from  the  bull-ring  went 
always  to  His  Catholic  Majesty. 

A  volume  might  be  written  on  the  taxes  of  var- 
ious kinds  that  were  imposed  upon  the  Spanish 
Colonists.  Miguel  Cruchaga  enumerates  ninety- 
one  distinct  taxes  that  were  collected  by  the  King 
from  the  Chilean  Colonists,  and  even  in  his  list 
there  are  several  omissions,  for  example, 


44       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Primicias,  or  first-fruits. 

Escusado,  a  tax  "for  the  war  against  the  Infidels." 

Pulperfas,  tavern  licenses. 

Los   Toros,  bull-fights — a  royal  monopoly. 

The  "Bull  of  the  Crusade"  was  one  of  the  least  of 
these  taxes.  This  was  an  indulgence  that  every  one 
was  obliged  to  buy,  every  two  years,  pena  del  in- 
fierno.  It  cost  one  or  two  dollars  for  each  inhabi- 
tant (Solorzano,  "De  Jure  Indiarum,"  Vol.  II.  No. 
3),  according  to  his  ability  to  pay,  and  was  so 
productive  that  the  Holy  Crusade  formed  a  tribu- 
nal only  second  in  importance  to  the  Holy  Office 
of  the  Inquisition,  and  the  post  of  treasurer,  which 
as  we  shall  see  was  the  case  with  the  majority  of 
Royal  offices,  was  put  up  for  public  sale,  and 
brought  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars.  This 
is  at  least  the  price  that  was  paid  for  nomination 
to  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the  Holy  Crusade 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  by 
Don  Pedro  Machado  de  Torres.  The  Crusades 
drew  their  last  gasp  before  the  walls  of  Tunis  in 
1270,  when  St.  Louis  turned  his  despairing  gaze 
for  the  last  time  upon  the  unconquered  city  and 
fell  dead  in  the  arms  of  Joinville,  but  the  business 
continued  for  centuries  to  be  too  profitable  to  be 
discontinued.  In  1820,  Lord  Cochrane,  then  an 
Admiral  in  the  Chilean  Navy,  having  captured  a 
Spanish  vessel,  discovered  in  the  cargo  "sixty 
enormous  bales"  of  these  indulgences,  through  the 
sale  of  which,  the  Indian  slaves  starving  in  the 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  45 

mines  of  the  Bolivian  uplands  were  to  be  choused 
out  of  their  scanty  rations  to  contribute  to  the 
success  of  the  expedition  of  St.  Louis  against  the 
Saracens,  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

Even  the  enumeration  of  the  multitudinous 
taxes  and  exactions  imposed  upon  the  Spanish 
Colonies  would  be  wearisome  and  unnecessary. 
"The  Spanish  Kings"  (says  Vicuna-Mackenna  in 
his  History  of  Valparaiso)  "persisted  in  their  ef- 
forts to  turn  everything  possible  into  tributary 
gold  by  taxing  the  very  vices  of  the  Colonists, 
their  remorse,  even  their  crimes.  Did  they  lan- 
guish in  the  choking  heat  of  the  tropics,  a  tax  was 
laid  upon  the  snow  from  the  mountains.  Did  they 
smoke  the  tobacco  of  their  own  fields,  tobacco  was 
made  a  crown  monopoly,  and  the  Chilean  farmer 
must  buy  from  the  King  of  Spain  the  fruit  of  his 
own  labor.  The  only  luxury  in  which  the  old  and 
the  poor  could  indulge  was  mate  drinking, — mate 
was  made  a  crown  monopoly.  So  was  the  pepper 
of  the  Chilean  fields."  In  a  word  all  that  Spaing 
could  furnish  the  Colonists  was  loaded  down  with 
more  than  its  value  of  taxes,  while  the  indigenous 
products  of  Chile  itself  were  monopolized  by  the 
Crown. 

The  grjy^aji<^^  well 

as^in.  the  most  favorable  districts  of  Spain.  The 
grapes  of  Huasco  are  to-day  made  into  raisins 
that  are  unequaled  in  the  markets  of  the  world  and 
are  regarded  a  worthy  present  to  the  King  of 
England  on  his  birthday ;  while  the  wine  of  Huasco 


46       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

is  finer  than  the  old  Madeira  that  our  grandfathers 
en j  oyed ;  but  inasmuch  as  their  cultivation  would 
interfere  with  Spanish  trade,  they  were  not  in- 
deed taxed  or  monopolized  but  prohibited.  The 
olive  yards  and  the  vineyards  of  America  were 
forbidden  by  the  King  of  Spain  to  bear  fruit, 
and  the  laws  of  nature  were  annulled  that  the  laws 
of  the  Recopilacion  might  pour  gold  into  the  cof- 
fers of  His  Majesty,  the  King. 

In  Chile,  however,  owing  to  its  distance  from 
Spain  and  to  the  consequent  difficulties  of  Com- 
merce, a  certain  laxity  was  permitted  as  to  the 
planting  of  the  vine  and  the  olive.  In  the  valley 
of  the  Mapocho  near  San  Cristobal  are  some  very 
old  olive  trees  still  standing. 


SALE  OF  OFFICES 

Mention  was  made  earlier  of  Machado  de  Torres' 
purchase  of  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Cruzada  for 
twenty  thousand  dollars.  This  was  not  an  isolated 
instance  of  the  sale  of  an  office  of  profit.  It  was 
the  rule  in  the  Spanish  Colonies.  As  early  as  the 
15th  of  October,  1522,  (Lib.  viii.  Tit.  xx.  1.1), 
a  royal  decree  issued,  ordering  the  public  sale  of 
forty-nine  distinct  offices  in  each  of  the  provinces 
or  colonies  of  America. 

This,  law,  promulgated  by  Dona  Juan  a,  was 
re-enacted  by  Charles  I'  in  1557;  by.  Philip 
II.  in  1587  and  1591;  by  Philip  III.  in  1610 
and  by  Philip  IV.  in  1615.  It  was  never  an- 
nulled but  remained  in  force  until  the  Revolution. 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  47 

It  provided  for  the  sale,  to  the  highest  bidder,  of 
certain  specified  offices  of  public  trust  and  author- 
ity throughout  all  of  the  colonial  possessions  of 
Spain,  and  was  followed  by  a  series  of  enactments, 
providing,  with  exquisite  minuteness,  for  all  the  de- 
tails of  its  application.  These  offices  were  to  be 
legally  filled  only  by  this  process  of  public  auction, 
and  the  Governor  or  Viceroy  was  directed  to  remit 
the  proceeds  to  the  Royal  Treasury.  Merit 
alone  was  a  disqualification.  The  measure  was 
found  to  be  so  profitable  that  the  number  was 
constantly  increased  of  offices  thus  openly  sold, 
until  all  were  become  venal,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest.  The  control  of  this  method  rested 
securely  in  the  hands  of  the  Council  in  Madrid, 
since  all  offices  from  Viceroy  to  Corporation  At- 
torney or  Clerk  of  the  Cabildo,  were  filled  by  ap- 
pointment of  the  King.  In  1709,  Don  Andres  de 
Ustariz  bought  the  Governorship  of  Chile  for 
twenty-four  thousand  dollars,  and  while  Jose  An- 
tonio Rojas  was  in  Spain,  his  family  bought  for 
him  at  auction,  the  position  of  Regidor  in  the 
Cabildo  of  Santiago.  In  1715,  Juan  Bautista 
Tobar  paid  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars  to  be 
named  Military  Governor  of  Valparaiso,  which 
port  took  on  a  feverish  activity  during  the  early 
years  after  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Bourbon 
to  the  throne  of  Spain  in  the  person  of  Philip  V. 

The  hope  of  speedy  gain  was  the  natural  inccn-  ^ 
tive  to  this  mercenary  competition,  but  often  the 
emoluments  of  office  would  not  immediately  reim- 


48       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

burse  the  successful  bidder,  while  many  of  the  sub- 
ordinate offices  were  found  to  produce  a  sum  less 
than  the  actual  purchase  money.  This  gave  rise 
to  complaints  and  claims  which  were  carried  from 
the  colonial  authorities  and  laid  before  the  King, 
who  on  September  29,  1602,  issued  a  decree  pro- 
viding that  "after  the  sale  of  public  offices  the  plea 
of  deception  or  misrepresentation  be  not  allowed 
and  that  this  be  stipulated  as  a  condition  previous 
to  such  sale."  At  any  rate  one  would  always  have 
the  resource  of  resigning  from  an  unprofitable 
office?  This  was  in  some  cases  done,  and  gave  oc- 
casion to  a  new  decree  which  issued  just  two  years 
later,  September  25,  1604,  and  which  closed  this 
door  also  by  providing  "that  all  venal  offices  may 
be  resigned  by  the  payment  in  each  instance  of  the 
sum  fixed  by  the  present  law,"  that  is,  by  the  re- 
newed payment  of  one-third  to  one-half  of  the 
cost  of  the  original  appointment.  When  the  of- 
fice thus  became  vacant,  it  was  again  put  up  for 
sale  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  the  proceeds  went 
as  before  to  the  Royal  Treasury. 

In  its  effect  upon  the  people  of  Chile,  the  sale 
of  offices  produced  even  worse  results  than  the  in- 
genious system  of  multiplied  imposts,  that  were 
levied  wherever  there  was  any  chance  of  profit  to 
the  King;  for  this  added  the  irregular  extortion 
of  individuals  to  the  legal  exactions  of  the  crown, 
and  reproduced  all  the  ancient  evils  of  the  Roman 
pro-consular  government. 


o 


o 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  49 

The  Colonies  were  regarded  as  a  field  where  needy 
adventurers,  who  had  squandered  their  possessions 
at  home,  could  speedily  enrich  themselves,  and  re- 
sume their  prodigal  career  in  Madrid.  Residence 
in  the  Colonies  was  an  exile,  to  be  shortened  in  every 
way  consistent  with  the  necessary  accumulation  of 
wealth.  It  was  possible  in  three  or  four  years  to 
amass  a  fortune  in  Peru  and  Mexico,  and  the  offi- 
cials in  Chile  endeavored  to  force  from  that  colder 
and  less  favored  land  equal  wealth  with  their  broth- 
ers in  those  countries.  The  result  was  the  hope- 
less degradation  of  the  class  whose  industry  fur-* 
nished  thlTonljr wealth  of  the  Colony,  for  the  farm- 
ers  finding  themselves  deprived  of  even  a  meagre 
share  of  the  profits  of  their  own  labor,  gave  over 
their  fertile  fields  to  neglect,  and  yielded  themselves 
as  vassal-tenants  to  their  more  powerful  neighbors, 
who  might  be  able  to  resist  the  injustice  of  the 
Crown  officers,  and  who  would  at  least  afford  them 
protection,  shelter  and  food  in  return  for  service. 

In  comparison  with  the  financial  returns  from 
this  system  of  awarding  public  offices,  the  revenue 
derived  from  the  sal£  of  titles  of  nobility  was  not 
very  large,  and  yet  it  was  large  enough  not  to  be 
neglected.  In  Lima  there  were  sixty-three  pro- 
vincial Barons,  Counts  and  Marquises,  whose  orig- 
inal title  had  cost  each  of  them  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars, besides  an  annual  fine,  in  some  instances,  of 
five  hundred  or  one  thousand  dollars  for  entail. 
These  titles,  delightful  to  colonial  pride,  were  re- 


50       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

stricted  to  local  recognition.,  and  were  a  subject  for 
the  exercise  of  ridicule  in  the  Peninsula  by  the  very 
Court  that  received  the  fees  for  their  grant. 

INDIVIDUAL  EXTORTION 

One  of  the  governors  who  carried  this  system  of 
spoliation  to  its  extreme  was,  Don  Francisco 
Ibanez  de  Peralta,  who  left  Spain  a  bankrupt,  and 
reached  Chile  after  a  passage  of  two  years,  with 
new  debts  following  him  from  every  port  where  he 
had  landed.  The  salary  then  accorded  by  Spain 
to  the  Chilean  governor  was  eight  thousand  dol- 
lars per  annum.  Ibanez  was  friends  with  the  Coun- 
cil of  the  Indies,  who  had  promised  him  a  free  hand 
in  Chile.  They  were  perhaps  among  his  Peninsu- 
lar creditors  and  desired  to  get  their  accounts 
settled.  On  his  arrival  in  Chile  his  activities  be- 
gan. He  launched  out  into  traffic  of  every  kind ; 
— raising  cattle,  buying  crops,  selling  justice. 
He  opened  a  market  in  Santiago,  he  started  grist- 
mills, the  Governor's  palace  in  the  Plaza  del  Rei 
became  a  store  where  all  kinds  of  merchandise  were 
to  be  purchased.  He  sold  everything  that  was 
salable,  but  the  other  side  of  his  ledger  was  a 
paradigm  of  lavish  economy.  He  paid  for  noth- 
ing, overbearing  his  creditors  with  the  most  insolent 
threats.  Among  the  accounts  thus  rendered  fa- 
mous during  his  Chilean  service,  was  a  bill  for 
stable-rent  that  neither  entreaties  nor  menaces 
could  prevail  on  him  to  liquidate. 

He     sent     agents     throughout     the     province 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  51 

among  the  Indians,  who  compelled  them  to  buy 
goods  that  he  could  not  sell  in  the  city, — silk 
stockings,  laces,  eyeglasses, — things  they  had  no 
use  for,  but  which  were  forced  upon  them  at  ex- 
orbitant prices — razors,  doorkeys,  Spanish  come- 
dies, buttons.  Among  the  northern  Indians  this 
was  a  profitable  trade,  but  to  compel  the  Araucans 
to  purchase  such  things  was  as  if  General  Custer 
had  tried  to  compel  Sitting  Bull  to  buy  "Hollo  on 
the  Rhine,"  or  as  if  General  Crooke  had  forced 
upon  Geronimo,  "Dotty  Dimple  at  Play,"  for  four 
dollars  the  copy.  Still,  undeterred  by  occasional 
failure,  the  trade  went  briskly  on. 

His  mania  for  traffic  led  him  to  neglect  the  ac- 
counts of  the  Government,  although  the  rumor  ran 
that  this  seeming  neglect  only  served  to  conceal  his 
peculations.  He  caused  several  military  tumults 
by  withholding  the  pay  of  the  soldiers  on  the 
frontier.  The  Council  of  the  Indies  answered  the 
repeated  petitions  for  relief  that  poured  on  them 
from  Chile  by  imposing  heavy  fines  upon  the 
Governor-trader  and  keeping  him  in  office.  But 
these  fines  went  not  to  the  outraged  and  oppressed 
Chileans  but  to  the  purse  of  His  Majesty,  who  thus 
acknowledged  himself  Ibanez'  accomplice. 

How  much  money  Ibanez  accumulated  during  his 
term  of  office,  I  have  not  found  recorded,  but  his 
successor,  Andres  de  Ustariz,  thought  it  a  good 
speculation  to  pay  twenty-four  thousand  dollars, 
a  three  years'  purchase,  for  the  opportunity  to 
work  the  same  field,  and  in  the  case  of  Ustariz  we 


52       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

have  the  curious  testimony  of  a  letter  written  to 
King  Philip  V.  on  December  29,  1712,  by  the 
Bishop  of  Concepcion,  Don  Diego  Montero  del 
Aguila,  in  which  he  says  that  "the  president  hav- 
ing paid  twenty-four  thousand  dollars  for  his 
office  is  now  ready  to  return  to  Spain  with  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  and  found  a  family  es- 
tate." The  most  remarkable  thing  about  this 
letter  is  that  its  date  is  less  than  four  years  after 
Ustariz  obtained  the  office  in  February,  1709. 

Having  said  so  much  of  Ustariz,  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  record  that  he  was  eventually  disgraced, 
fined  fifty-four  thousand  dollars  and  superseded 
by  Don  Gabriel  Cano  de  Aponte,  who  ruled  Chile 
for  sixteen  years  of  prosperity  and  honor. 

Many  estimates  and  many  conjectures  have  been 
made  as  to  the  amount  of  revenue  that  the  Colonies 
paid  to  Spain  during  the  Colonial  period.  The  con- 
sideration of  this  subject  is  not  essential  to  the 
present  purpose,  but  I  may  say  that  from  Peru 
alone,  between  1748  and  1754,  the  gold  and  silver 
carried  to  Spain  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  fif- 
ty-three million,  eight  hundred  and  forty-four  thou- 
sand, four  hundred  and  thirty-three  dollars,  or 
about  twenty-five  millions  a  year.  The  year  1749 
contributed  over  thirty  millions  to  this  sum,  while 
some  earlier  periods  furnished  much  greater  sums 
even  than  this ;  to  which  of  course  must  be  added 
the  amounts  forwarded  from  Mexico  and  the  other 
Colonial  governments.  Don  Jorge  Juan  and  Don 
Antonio  de  Ulloa,  who  in  1735  made  a  tour  of  in- 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  53 

spection  through  America  and  whose  report  was 
published  in  Madrid  in  1749,  narrate,  among 
other  curious  and  interesting  facts,  the  discovery 
of  the  silver  mines  of  Potosi  which,  they  affirm, 
produced  yearly  over  forty-one  million  dollars' 
worth  of  silver  for  ninety-eight  consecutive  years. 
It  was  not  strange  that  the  Conde  de  Aranda 
wished  to  keep  the  pedazo  de  tocino  para  el  caldo 
gordo  (the  price  of  pork  that  makes  the  soup 
rich),  and  he  was  long  since  in  his  grave  when 
Joseph  Bonaparte  seized  the  Spanish  Throne,  yet 
in  the  three  years  that  followed  the  imprisonment 
of  Ferdinand,  the  American  Colonies,  in  addition 
to  the  enormous  sums  that  the  annual  taxes  wrung 
from  them,  sent  to  Spain  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
million  dollars  as  a  voluntary  offering  to  aid  the 
jJunta  Central  and  the  cause  of  the  King. 

It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  Spain,  having 
expelled  from  her  own  soil  the  most  industrious 
and  intelligent  portion  of  her  population,  who 
bore  home  with  them  to  Morocco  all  the  mechan- 
ical skill,  all  the  manufacturing  ability  and  all 
the  agricultural  information  that  existed  in  the 
Peninsula,  would  take  any  steps  to  encourage  the 
establishment  of  factories  or  similar  industrial 
ventures  in  her  colonies ;  but  one  reads  with  sur- 
prise the  reason  that  Philip  II.  openly  gave  to 
Luis  de  Velasco  when  he  sent  him  out  as  Viceroy  of 
Peru.  He  directed  him,  "by  no  means  permit  the 
manufacture  of  cloth  or  any  similar  industries, 


54       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

for  the  reason  that  if  it  were  permitted,  the  trade 
of  those  regions  with  Spain  would  be  lessened."  l 

CONTEMPT  OF  AMERICANS 

The  European  Spaniards  looked  upon  the 
Spanish  Americans  with  the  most  undisguised  con- 
tempt, and  when  a  Chilean,  a  Mexican  or  a  Peru- 
vian had  the  temerity  to  seek  anything  from  the 
Peninsular  government,  however  humble  might  be 
his  aspirations,  and  however  great  the  services 
that  he  had  rendered  to  the  crown,  his  plea  was 
uniformly  disregarded  and  his  supplication  en- 
countered silence  and  disdain.  If  he  sought  in 
person  the  slightest  favor  from  the  Government 
he  was  allowed  to  wait  in  Madrid  for  years  before 
an  answer  was  vouchsafed  him.  True,  it  was  not 
the  American  Spaniards  alone  who  suffered  the 
"torture  of  suspense  in  awaiting  the  result  of  their 
petitions  in  the  anterooms  of  Lerma  and  Garro. 
Gil  Bias  knew  in  Madrid  the  Captain,  Don  Anibal 
Chinchilla,  during  an  earlier  reign.  Chinchilla 
had  lost  an  eye  in  Naples,  in  the  service  of  the 
King,  an  arm  in  Lombardy  and  a  leg  in  the  Neth- 
erlands. "I  wondered,"  said  Gil  Bias,  "that,  in 
his  narrative  of  battles  and  sieges,  not  a  boast 
escaped  him,  though  he  might  easily  be  pardoned 
a  word  of  praise  for  the  half  of  his  body  that  re- 
mained in  honor  of  the  other  half  that  he  had 
lost."  Chinchilla  lingered  in  Madrid  until  his 

i"para   que   no   se   enflaqueciese  el   trato   comercial   con 
Espafia."     (Ano.  X.  I.  pg.  82.) 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  55 

money  was  gone  and  he  dined  once  a  day  on  onions 
and  garlic,  until  by  a  ruse  he  succeeded  in  termi- 
nating his  affair  to  his  own  satisfaction. 

Jose  Antonio  Rojas  was  a  Chilean  who  waited 
in  vain  for  seven  years  for  a  response  to  a  simple 
petition  in  behalf  of  his  friend  and  future  father- 
in-law,  Don  Jose  Perfecto  Salas,  a  gentleman  who 
had  all  his  life  served  the  King  of  Spain  as  Judge 
and  Attorney  General  (Oidor  and  Fiscal)  in  Peru 
and  Chile,  and  who  now  only  requested  the  royal 
permission  to  resign  with  honor  on  account  of  his 
old  age.  Rojas  waited  until  Senor  Salas  was 
dead,  but  he  never  succeeded  in  getting  a  hearing 
on  the  case  in  Madrid.  Don  Manuel  Salas,  the 
son  of  the  gentleman  just  named,  having  come 
from  Chile  to  aid  Rojas  in  his  effort,  himself  spent 
several  years  in  the  same  hopeless  endeavor.  Ro- 
jas wrote  to  his  mother  under  date  of  August  7, 
1777,  "The  condition  of  being  a  native  of  Chile 
is  here  regarded  as  something  worse  than  a  con- 
dition of  original  sin,  for  baptism  will  free  us  from 
this  but  from  that  there  is  no  escape." 

Salas,  howe,ver,  was  fortunate  enough  to  achieve 
a  success  that  touched  with  envy  every  admiring 
friend  in  Chile;  he  had  the  extreme  felicity,  as 
Amunategui  narrates,  on  May  30,  1778,  to  be 
"admitted  to  kiss  the  august  hands  of  the  royal 
persons"  and  on  the  £5th  of  December  of  the  same 
auspicious  year,  "he  saw  the  King  eat."  Other- 
wise his  mission  was  without  effect. 


56       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

OFFICIAL  RESTRICTIONS 

The  panic  that  was  caused  in  the  Court  of  Ma- 
drid by  the  rebellion  of  Gonzalo  Pizarro  in  Peru 
in  1547,  and  by  the  rumor  of  a  conspiracy  of  the 
sons  of  Cortes  in  Mexico  in  1567,  never  wholly 
faded  from  the  official  memory  of  the  King  of 
Spain,  and  was  the  occasion  of  a  series  of  decrees 
which  should  for  all  time  prevent  the  possibility  of 
any  Colonial  official  forming  a  personal  following 
in  the  transmarine  possessions  of  Spain.  The  ten- 
ure j>£  office,  especially  of  high  executive  office,  like 
that  of  Viceroy  or  Governor,  was  iliArpfnrp  n. 
one.^  From  the  time  of  Valdivia,  only  one  Gover- 
nor of  Chile,  Don  Gabriel  Cano  de  Aponte,  was  con- 
tinued in  office  for  a  period  exceeding  ten  years, 
and  during  the  two  hundred  and  seventy  years  of 
Colonial  history,  the  average  term  of  office  for  the 
Governors  of  Chile  was  less  than  four  years.  Not 
only  were  the  Governor's  official  duties  prescribed 
so  carefully  as  to  permit  him  little  latitude  of  con- 
struction or  interpretation,  but  his  personal  con- 
duct was  regulated  by  a  rigid  system  that  confined 
his  relations  with  the  colonists  of  his  government 
to  the  barest  essentials  of  official  intercourse. 

The  governor  was  forbidden  to  interest  himself*' 
in  any  commercial  business  whatever,  directly  or 
indirectly ;  to  lend  or  borrow  money ;  to  own  any 
house,  garden,  farm  or  real  estate  of  any  kind; 
to  be  present  at  funerals  or  marriages,  or  to  act 
as  god  father  at  baptisms ;  to  receive  gifts  or  to 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  57 

contract  friendships,  either  himself  or  his  wife  or 
children ;  to  make  or  receive  visits  in  any  other 
than  his  official  capacity;  to  permit  his  children 
or  relatives  to  contract  a  marriage  within  the  lim- 
its of  his  government;  in  a  word  to  hold  him- 
self aloof  from  all  the  social,  political  and  com- 
mercial life  of  the  Colony  which  he  governed. 
Don  Alonzo  <le  Ribera,  having  married  a  Chilean, 
was  degraded  from  the  position  of  Governor  of 
Chile  in  1604.  Thirty-five  years  later,  the  Gover- 
nor of  Chile,  Don  Francisco  Lazo  de  la  Vega,  at 
the  close  of  a  long  and  exhausting  session  of  the 
Royal  Audience,  wishing  to  give  the  members  of 
that  body  a  day  of  pleasure,  chose  for  the  purpose 
a  country-house  whose  occupants  gladly  absented 
themselves  from  home  for  the  day.  With  stu- 
dious respect  for  the  King's  commands,  he  pro- 
vided everything  that  might  be  required,  even  to 
the  drinking  water,  from  his  own  residence  in  San- 
tiago. No  one  was  present  but  the  Governor,  the 
members  of  the  Royal  Audience  and  a  few  other 
high  officials  of  the  King's  service  and  of  Spanish 
birth.  The  offense  was  considered  so  flagrant  that 
the  King  dismissed  them  all  from  office  in  disgrace, 
from  which,  however,  he  afterwards  excepted  one 
of  the  Judges,  who  was  proved  to  have  been  too 
ill  to  be  present,  and  who  was  thought  to  have 
furnished  the  King  with  the  information  on  which 
he  acted. 

It  was  doubtless  with  a  similar  purpose,  that 
the  King,  or  the  Council  of  the  Indies  in  his  name, 


58       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

refused  to  entrust  the  higher  administrative  posts 
to  colonists  whatever  their  merit  or  capacity.  "A  r* 
main  feature  in  her  policy  is  that  which  constantly 
elevates  the  European  and  depresses  the  American^— 
character,"  observed  Henry  Clay.  From  the  time 
of  the  conquest  until  the  independence,  in  a  list 
of  over  seventy  governors,  there  is  to  be  found  the 
name  of  but  one  Chilean,  Don  Diego  Gonzalo  Mon- 
tero,  and  he  only  served  ad  interim  and  for  a 
few  months.  He  was  not  so  much  Governor,  as 
locum  tenens,  and  was  displaced  as  soon  and  as 
ignominiously  as  possible.  According  to  a  foot- 
note by  Vicuna-Mackenna  in  Lastarria's  "Investi- 
gaciones  sobre  la  Influencia  Social  del  Systema 
Colonial,"  the  statement  was  made  by  Don  Manuel 
Moreno  that  no  American  was  ever  appointed 
Viceroy  of  Peru,  New  Granada  or  Buenos  Ayres, 
while  out  of  sixty-two  viceroys  of  Mexico  only 
three  were  born  in  America,  or  one  in  each  century 
between  Cortes  and  O'Donoju,  between  1521  and 
1821. 

SECRET  SERVICE 

The  chief  result,  as  it  was  the  main  purpose,  of 
the  royal  supervision  of  all  offices,  alike  impor- 
tant and  trivial,  was,  that  holding  directly  from 
the  King,  the  incumbents  were  bound  only  to  the 
King.  Thus  no  esprit  de  corps  could  ever  arise 
in  any  governing  body.  Their  traditions  were 
the  traditions  of  etiquette  and  of  personal  devotion 
to  His  Majesty  and  no  other.  Thus  in  addition 
to  a  secret  service  that  would  have  excited  the 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  59 

envy  of  Dionysius,  of  Macbeth  or  Abdul  Hamid, 
there  was  every  incentive  to  the  Colonial  officials 
to  act  as  spies  and  delators  even  in  their  own  body. 
A  general  conspiracy  of  distrust  filled  the  secret 
archives  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies  with  volumin- 
ous reports  of  private  as  well  as  of  public  informa- 
tion. The  minute  particularity  of  these  reports 
appears  in  many  royal  documents,  of  which  I  will 
quote  in  part  one  which  appears  under  the  date 
December  £8,  1674. 

"To  Don  Juan  Henriquez,  Knight  of  the  Order  of 
Santiago,  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  the 
Provinces  of  Chile  and  President  of  the  Royal  Au- 
dience of  the  same: 

"We  have  been  informed  of  the  scandal  and  ill- 
example  that  have  been  caused  in  that  city  by  Don 
Jose  de  Meneses,  Judge  of  the  said  Royal  Audience, 
in  maintaining  an  improper  intimacy  with  a  single 
woman  named  Dona  Elvira  Tello;  and  that  the 
Bishop  of  Santiago  has  directed  his  Secretary  to 
warn  her  grandmother,  Dona  Beatrix  de  la  Barrera, 
in  whose  house  she  lived,  to  keep  a  closer  watch  over 
her  actions;  and  that,  this  proving  insufficient,  the 
same  caution  had  been  repeated  through  her  aunt, 
Dona  Aldonza  Tello,  a  nun  in  the  Convent  of  Santa 
Clara,  with  the  like  failure  to  impress  her  with  the 
necessity  of  amendment;  and  that  the  Bishop  of  San- 
tiago had  summoned  her,  and  had  examined  five  wit- 
nesses, who  deposed  that  they  had  heard  a  report 
that  she  had  presented  Don  Jose  with  a  daughter; 
and  that  the  Bishop  had  thereupon  directed  that  she 
be  placed  in  a  convent,  but  that  her  grandfather  had 


60       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

begged  her  off,  that  she  might  be  sent  to  her  aunts 
who  lived  twenty  leagues  from  the  city;  that  while 
she  was  on  the  road  to  her  aunts,  Don  Lorenzo  Laso 
de  la  Vega  came  riding  up  and  while  he  engaged  her 
in  conversation,  several  masked  horsemen  appeared 
with  drawn  swords  and  seized  her  and  brought  her 
back  with  them  to  the  city;  and  that  the  Bishop  has 
ascertained  that  they  had  gone  to  the  house  of  D.  Jose 
de  Meneses  and  had  acted  under  instructions  from 
him. 

"These  matters  having  come  up  before  the  Council 
of  the  Indies,  it  seemed  incredible  that  you  should 
not  have  known  of  this  scandal  concerning  Don  Jose 
de  Meneses,  as  well  as  of  that  which  involved  also 
your  brother,  Don  Bias  Henriquez,  in  a  similar  of- 
fense with  Dona  Inez  de  Astorga.  I  have  therefore 
resolved  to  place  these  details  before  you,  that  you 
may  for  the  future  be  admonished  to  fulfill  more  at- 
tentively the  obligations  of  your  office.  I  have  also, 
in  a  despatch  to  the  Royal  Audience  under  this  same 
date,  directed  them  to  exact  from'  you  a  fine  of  a 
thousand  dollars  to  be  sent  to  me  in  the  usual  way 
(en  la  conformidad  que  se  les  ordena)." 

In  all  questions  of  mere  service,  the  King's  cause 
was  not  only  paramount  but  unique,  while  in  all 
questions  involving  fines,  confiscations  and  forfeit- 
ures, he  stimulated  their  loyalty  by  inciting  their 
interest,  in  awarding  a  large  part  of  such  avails 
to  the  informer.  Colonial  history  is  full  of  these 
cases.  The  evil  of  such  a  system  seems  not  to  have 
been  apparent  to  them.  Envy  and  cupidity  were 
not  regarded  as  undignified  weapons  in  the  King's 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  61 

service,  for  the  King's  cause  hallowed  them. 
Every  official  was  trained  to  this  practice,  which 
was  inculcated  as  the  highest  of  duties.  Thus 
every  Judge  of  the  Royal  Audience  was  a  check 
upon  every  other  Judge,  upon  the  President,  upon 
the  ecclesiastical  body  and  upon  the  Cabildo,  all 
of  whom  in  turn  fulfilled  the  same  duty  of  spying 
upon  each  other.  So  great  was  this  spirit  of 
emulation,  that  when  once  suspicion  pointed 
against  an  individual,  all,  even  his  colleagues, 
joined  in  the  cry  against  him.  I  will  cite  one 
case  from  the  records  of  the  Royal  Audience  itself. 
In  1614,  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Royal  Audi- 
ence in  Santiago,  was  Don  Pedro  Alvarez  de  Sol- 
orzano,  who  had  among  other  children  a  daughter 
named  Florencia.  Don  Pedro  Lisperguer  fell  in 
love  with  her,  but  though  his  family  was  the  rich- 
est and  proudest  in  Chile,  and  though  he  was  a 
young  gentleman  of  admirable  accomplishments 
and  thoroughly  in  love,  yet  the  will  of  the  King 
and  the  law  of  the  Council  compelled  Solorzano 
to  close  the  door  to  this  very  eligible  aspirant. 
This  he  did  sternly  and  definitively.  Don  Pedro, 
denied  the  door,  forced  the  window,  which  perhaps 
on  this  occasion  was  not  locked  very  fast,  and 
carried  off  the  Judge's  daughter  at  midnight. 
The  next  day  Solorzano,  finding  his  daughter  gone, 
sought  her  where  he  expected  to  find  her,  carried 
her  home  and  laid  before  the  Royal  Audience  a 
complaint  against  Don  Pedro  for  seduction,  as  a 
result  of  which  the  young  man  was  at  once  ar- 


62       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

rested  and  imprisoned.  Don  Pedro  in  turn  com- 
plained to  the  Vicar-General  that  he  had  received 
unjust  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  Audience, 
for  he  was  betrothed  to  the  young  lady  and  was 
desirous  of  marrying  her.  He  therefore  prayed 
the  Ecclesiastical  Court,  through  the  Vicar-Gen- 
eral, to  place  her  in  a  nunnery  until  such  time  as 
they  could  be  married.  This  was  done,  and  after 
a  long  delay  Solorzano  withdrew  his  complaint  and 
the  marriage  took  place  in  due  form.  This  ought 
in  all  propriety  to  have  ended  the  matter,  but,  a 
few  days  after,  one  of  the  other  Judges  observing 
a  smile  on  Solorzano's  face,  inferred  therefrom  his 
pleasure  at  the  marriage  of  his  daughter.  In  a 
moment  the  suspicion  arose  that  all  this  opposi- 
tion, imprisonment,  outcry  and  scandal,  was  the 
cover  under  which  Solorzano  and  Don  Pedro  had 
concealed  their  concert.  He  immediately  reported 
the  whole  case  in  a  despatch  to  the  King,  and  after 
he  had  thus  established  the  priority  of  his  accusa- 
tion, he  proceeded  to  denounce  before  his  colleagues 
the  treasonable  compact  through  which  Solor- 
zano had  mocked  the  Audience,  and  conspired  with 
Lisperguer  to  baffle  the  law.  There  was  nothing 
but  suspicion  put  forward  as  a  basis  for  this  seri- 
ous charge,  but  the  Judges  at  once  vindicated 
their  zeal  for  the  King's  cause  by  suspending 
Solorzano  from  office  until  the  King's  pleasure 
should  be  known,  and  notifying  the  officials  of 
the  royal  treasury  to  discontinue  his  salary.  In 
vain  Solorzano  begged  that  he  might  plead  his 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  63 

case  before  his  colleagues  and  establish  his  in- 
nocence; they  paid  no  attention  to  him.  Month 
after  month  he  renewed  his  solicitations  vainly. 
He  then,  realizing  the  futility  of  his  efforts,  set 
out  for  Spain,  that  he  might  at  least  put  in  an 
appearance  before  the  case  was  decided  against 
him.  At  Portobello,  he  had  the  good  fortune  to 
meet  Don  Francisco  de  Borja,  Prince  of  Esqui- 
lache,  who  was  on  his  way  to  Lima,  where  he  had 
been  named  Viceroy.  Happily,  the  Prince  was 
yet  in  Spain  when  the  charges  against  Solorzano 
had  been  received,  and  the  King  had  commissioned 
him  to  take  up  the  case  and  decide  it.  Solorzano 
returned  to  Lima  in  the  Viceroy's  company,  and 
finally  succeeded  in  persuading  him  of  his  inno- 
cence, but  in  the  meantime,  his  wife  had  died, 
and  he  had  endured  two  years  of  disgrace  and 
suffering  before  he  could  procure  his  reinstate- 
ment as  a  Judge  of  the  Royal  Audience. 

Such  was  the  system  by  which  for  three  centuries 
Spain  governed  her  Colonial  possessions.  There 
is  no  indication,  anywhere  in  these  enactments,  of 
any  desire,  however  fleeting  and  ineffectual,  to  con- 
ciliate the  good  will  of  the  colonists,  to  improve 
their  material  welfare  or  to  promote  their  intel- 
lectual growth.  No  means  was  neglected,  which 
the  most  strenuous  and  elaborate  ingenuity  of 
cupidity  and  injustice  could  devise,  to  secure  the 
only  end  which  the  Spanish  court  sought  to  at- 
tain,— the  acquisition  of  all  the  money  that  could 


64       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

be  wrung  out  of  he£_colonies.  There  was  even 
no  subterfuge  employed;  this  purpose  is  read  in 
every  decree  that  the  Spanish  King  passed  for  the 
government  of  his  colonial  subjects.  The  estab- 
lishment of  the  Church  and  the  regulation  of  its 
functions  in  America  is  hardly  to  be  regarded  as 
an  exception,  since  the  authority  of  the  Church 
was  uniformly  employed  to  sanction  and  gratify 
the  insatiable  avarice  of  the  Spanish  Court.  Nor 
does  there  exist  any  record  of  any  protest  on  the 
part  of  any  member  of  the  clergy  against  this 
degrading  custom,  and  no  resentment  was  ever 
expressed  at  the  unworthy  service  which  the  King 
demanded  and  received  from  the  Church. 
v  Throughout  the  whole  Colonial  history  the 
Church  was  the  stronghoLLof  royal  power.  Some 
of  the  lesser  clergy,  indeed,  took  an  active  part 
in  the  independence  of  Spanish  America,  as  they 
had  already  done  in  that  of  the  British  Colonies 
of  the  North.  Here  we  are  familiar  with  the 
excellent  renown  of  Eaton,  Trumbull,  Caldwell, 
Kirkland,  Dwight,  John  Gano  and  Thomas  Allen 
of  Pittsfield.  The  clergy  of  the  South  when  im- 
pelled by  like  noble  impulses,  ran  a  much  greater 
hazard  than  those  of  the  American  colonies,  since 
to  the  peril  of  war  was  added  the  penalty  of  ex- 
communication which  was  not  a  hazard,  nor  con- 
tingent on  defeat,  but  a  preliminary  certainty  of 
their  engaging  in  the  cause  of  liberty.  Cortes 
and  Fretes,  affilies  of  O'Higgins  in  the  Gran  Re- 
union Americana,  were  priests,  who  in  Venezuela 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  65 

and  Chile  urged  on  the  cause  of  independence  and 
were  excommunicated.  The  very  greatest  of  them 
all,  Hidalgo,  left  his  parish  in  Dolores  to  inau- 
gurate in  Mexico  a  war  that  lasted  without  inter- 
mission for  eleven  years  before  its  success  was 
achieved.  Hidalgo  was  excommunicated  by  the  In- 
quisition and  again  by  the  Bishop  of  Michoacan, 
and  this  sentence  was  confirmed  by  the  Archbishop, 
Lizana  y  Beaumont.  Taken  captive  at  Chihua- 
hua, June  26,  1811,  he  was  decapitated  on  the 
30th  of  July,  and  his  head  was  fixed  upon  the 
public  granary  of  Guanajuato,  for  Spain  did  not 
recognize  the  revolution  as  even  a  state  of  war, 
v  "but  treated^  her  jprisoners  like  bandits — enemies  of 
the  Kingdom  and  of  the  human  race.  Camilo 
Henriquez  was  a  priest,  whose  glowing  eloquence 
and  lofty  patriotism  found  a  voice  in  the 
"Aurora  de  Chile,"  the  earliest  periodical  in  South 
America.  Driven  from  the  Church,  forgotten  by 
the  people  he  had  served,  he  died  in  neglect  and 
penury.  Morelos  was  a  priest  before  he  became  a 
patriot,  and  expiated  his  patriotism  by  an  igno- 
minious death  in  Valladolid,  which  a  grateful 
country  afterward  renamed  Morellia  in  his  honor. 
So  Don  Mariano  Matamoros  was  a  priest,  and 
Acuna  and  Larrain,  and  many  of  the  inferior 
clergy  throughout  the  broad  colonies  of  Spain  lent 
effective  and  unselfish  service  to  the  cause  of  liberty 
and  humanity. 

But  these  were  individuals,  who  acted  on  a  gen- 
erous impulse  that  was  not  felt  by  the  higher  dig- 


66       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

nitaries  of  the  Church.  As  a  slight  extenuation  of 
the  hostile  attitude  assumed  by  the  higher  clergy, 
it  may  be  conceded  that  they  in  reality  formed  a 
part  of  the  Spanish  system,  and  were  too  deeply 
involved  in  official  custom  and  too  dependent  for 
their  personal  welfare  on  the  perpetuation  of  the 
ancient  order  of  government,  to  be  easily  influenced 
by  disinterested  considerations  of  humanity,  jus- 
tice and  liberty ;  but  from  the  early  dawn  of  politi- 
cal emancipation,  the  most^jpowerful  and_jnost 
persistent  enemy  of  independence  was  the  Church. 
The  Bishopryf ••MicIiugcaETm'  a  pastoraTwhich  on 
September  30,  1810,  he  fulminated  against  the 
"rebels,"  said,  "If  you  continue  stubborn,  your 
souls  will  be  destined  to  the  eternal  pangs  of  Hell 
and  your  bodies,  refused  Catholic  burial,  will  serve 
as  food  for  dogs  and  the  foul  birds  of  the  air." 
A  long  experience  had  selected  this  Homeric  curse 
as  the  most  powerful  one  in  the  ecclesiastical  arm- 
ory, and  they  testified  to  their  faith  in  its  efficacy 
by  its  frequent  repetition.  With  slight  inflec- 
tional change,  the  Bishop  of  Popayan  reviled  the 
patriots : — "Heretics  and  detestable  schismatics 
are  they  who  seek  independence,  but  they  who  de- 
fend the  holy  cause,  strive  for  the  holy  religion, 
and  if  they  die,  fly  direct  to  Heaven."  The  Bishop 
of  Mamas  issued  a  pastoral  in  which  he  said, 
"The  mere  name  of  liberty  is  the  word  most  scan- 
dalous of  all.  Fly  from  it,  children,  as  you  would 
fly  from  Hell."  The  Archbishop  of  Lima  added 
a  pleasing  figure,  "The  frightful  howlings  of  the 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  67 

infernal  wolf  have  been  heard  in  the  quiet  bosom 
of  this  tranquil  fold."  Don  Jose  Miguel  Carrera, 
giving  an  account  of  the  siege  of  Chilian,  says, 
in  his  diary,  "The  priests  preach  that  it  is  a 
mortal  sin  to  fight  for  one's  country,  and  refuse 
to  absolve  the  dying  unless  they  shall  abjure  their 
patriotism.  These  representations  have  a  great 
effect  on  the  people  and  even  on  the  soldiers." 
In  Concepcion,  Father  Gregorio  del  Valle  recruited 
a  body  of  men  to  whom  he  gave  the  name  of  "The 
Army  of  Extermination,"  which,  however,  fled  in 
panic  with  their  leader  at  the  distant  approach 
of  the  patriots. 

After  all  hope  had  deserted  the  royal  cause, 
the^clergy  continued  to  intrigue  for  the  restora- 
tion of  Spanish  authority.  Several  years  after 
the  establishment  in  Chile  of  free  government,  Don 
Mariano  Egana,  then  Chilean  minister  in  London, 
reported  to  his  government  that  the  Bishop  of 
Santiago  was  busily  occupied,  in  endeavoring, 
with  the  aid  of  the  Peninsular  authorities,  to  sub- 
vert the  independence  of  the  country  and  effect 
the  restoration  of  Spanish  authority,  or,  failing 
in  his  full  purpose,  at  least  to  introduce  such  a  con- 
dition of  anarchy  in  Chile  as  would  render  that 
country  a  ready  prey  to  Spanish  intrigue.  The 
Bishop  proved  so  refractory,  when  his  schemes  were 
disclosed,  that  the  government  was  finally  compelled 
to  insist  upon  his  departure  from  the  country. 

The  revolution  of  the  English  Colonies  "was 
directed  against  the  mere  theory  of  tyranny,"  as 


68       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Henry  Clay  observed;  "we  had  suffered  compar- 
atively little ;  we  had  in  some  respects  been  kindly 
treated."  We  had  certainly  for  many  years  been 
left  practically  to  ourselves,  perhaps  the  most 
lenient  and  the  wisest  course  that  could  have  been 
taken  for  our  own  good;  and  had  been  permitted 
to  develop  our  own  capabilities  without  much  su- 
pervision and  without  perceptible  restriction.1 
VBut  the  Spanish  Colonists,  the  devoted,  affectionate 
and  faithful  subjects  of  Spain,  had  been  over- 
whelmed and  oppressed  under  the  most  intolerable 
servitude.  Don  Adolfo  Ibanez,  an  illustrious  law- 
yer and  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  under  Pres- 
ident Errazuriz,  once  told  the  author,  that  "with- 
out question  the  Recopilacion  de  Indias  was  the 
most  minute,  exact  and  comprehensive  special  code 
that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  is  a  monument  to 
the  oppression  of  Spain,  it  is  the  Utopia  of  Tyr- 
anny." Senor  Ibanez,  in  thus  appreciating  the 
Recopilacion,  had  in  mind  the  spirit  in  which  this 
code  condescends  to  regulate  the  most  insignifi- 
cant details  of  legal  and  governmental  procedure. 
Don  Jose  Victorino  Lastarria,  referring  to  the 
manner  in  which  this  is  accomplished, — to  the  form 
which  the  code  assumed,  does  not  scruple  to  deride 
it  as  representing  "the  loftiest  attainable  altitude 
of  imperfection." 

i "  'They  nourished  by  your  indulgence !' "  said  Barre",  in 
reply  to  Charles  Townshend's  speech  in  Parliament  on  the 
state  of  affairs  in  the  British  North  American  colonies, 
"they  throve  through  your  neglect  of  them." 


THE  SPANISH  COLONY  69 

Among  these  multitudinous  decrees  that  blighted 
everything  they  touched,  and  that  touched  every 
human  interest,  one  searches  in  vain  for  any  acts 
of  truly  beneficent  legislation.  No  scientific  ex- 
peditions were  sent  out,  no  surveying  or  exploring 
parties  were  authorized  by  the  King,  no  engineers 
commissioned,  no  attempt  to  encourage  manufac- 
tures, to  establish  schools,  to  reform  abuses,  to 
build  ships,  to  make  roads,  to  reclaim  waste  lands. 
The  Recopilacion  de  Leyes  de  los  Reinos  de  las 
Indias  was  a  code  of  legislation  not  so  much  for 
colonial  government  as  for  colonial  exploitation, 
and  in  this  light,  with  all  its  formal  imperfections, 
it  deserves  the  encomium  bestowed  upon  it  by 
Don  Adolfo  Ibafiez. 

Nevertheless,  under  all  these  multiplied  exac- 
tions, the  people  of  Chile  were  contented  and 
loyal.  When  the  hand  of  the  King  of  Spain  lay 
heavy  upon  them  they  felt  no  more  resentment  than 
when  they  were  afflicted  by  the  hand  of  God. 

Nature  conspired  with  the  King  and  the  Coun- 
cil of  the  Indies  to  make  Chile  the  type  of  affec- 
tionate submission.  She  was  the  poorest  and  con- 
sequently the  most  neglected  member  of  the  Colo- 
nial family  of  Spain.  Since  the  Straits  of  Magel- 
lan were  forbidden  to  Spanish  ships,  Chile  lay  at 
the  last  nook  of  the  world ;  beyond  her  there  was 
geographically  nothing ;  the  road  stopped  there ; 
if  a  Spaniard  visited  Chile,  he  could  not  go  on, 
but  must  come  back  by  the  way  he  entered; 
therefore  not  many  came  so  far.  Into  this  for- 


70       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

gotten  corner,  the  news  of  the  world,  if  it  came  at 
all,  came  only  after  it  had  traversed  all  other 
lands.  The  change  of  dynasties  excited  no  inter- 
est here,  the  rumors  of  war  failed  to  reach  these 
distant  shores.  Henry  IV.,  Cromwell,  Sobieski, 
Marlborough,  Frederick,  might  storm  across  the 
European  stage  and  fill  the  world  with  the  clash  of 
arms — even  their  names  were  unknown  here.  The 
highest  reach  of  personal  ambition  sought  noth- 
ing more  exalted  than  a  seat  in  the  Cabildo,  or 
an  empty  title  purchased  from  the  Spanish  Court. 
Petty  interests  filled  their  lives — the  little  affairs 
of  their  neighbors,  the  crops,  the  raising  of  cattle, 
the  processions  of  the  church.  They  led  a  simple 
bucolic  existence,  compared  with  which  the  life  of 
Philemon  and  Baucis  was  a  career  of  wild  adven- 
ture. 


PART  II 
THE  SPANISH  JUNTA 


"Sin  tomar  en  cuenta  los  antecedentes  del 
levantamiento  i  revolution  de  Espaiia,  sin  in- 
sinuar  siquiera  los  hechos  mas  culminantes 
acaecidos  en  esa  epoca  fausta  para  la  inde- 
pendencia  de  America,  mal  podrian  valori- 
zarse  las  causas  morales  i  politicas  que  die- 
ron  por  resultado  la  emancipation  del  Nuevo 
Mundo. 

"EL  PRIMER  GOBIERNO   NACIONAL, 

"TOCORNAL." 

"Unless  we  were  to  take  into  consideration 
the  uprising  and  revolution  of  Spain  and  the 
important  occurrences  that  befell  in  that  pe- 
riod, so  auspicious  for  the  cause  of  American 
independence,  we  would  necessarily  fail  to 
appreciate  at  their  true  value  the  moral  and 
political  causes  that  brought  about  the  eman- 
cipation of  her  colonies." 

"Todas  los  dias,  invierno  i  verano,  iba  a 
cazar  hasta  las  doce,  comia  i  al  instante  vol- 
via  al  cazadero  hasta  la  caida  de  la  tarde. 
Manuel  me  inf  ormaba  como  iban  las  cosas,  i 
me  iba  a  acostar  para  comenzar  la  misma 
vida  al  dia  siguiente,  a  menos  de  impedir- 
melo  alguna  ceremonia  important  e." 

"Every  day,  winter  and  summer,  7  v  nt  to 
hunt  until  noon,  ate  my  dinner  and  at  once 
returned  to  the  hunt  until  night-fall.  Man- 
uel informed  me  how  things  were  going,  and 
I  went  to  bed,  to  begin  the  same  life  the 
next  day,  unless  some  important  ceremony 
prevented. 
"CHARLES  IV.  to  NAPOLEON  at  Bayonne." 


THE  SPANISH  JUNTA 

On  the  14th  of  December,  1788,  died  Charles 
III.,  the  best  King1  that  had  occupied  the  Span- 
ish throne  since  the  union  of  the  crowns,  and  on  {/ 
the  17th  of  January,  1789,  Charles  IV.,  his  son, 
was  crowned  King  of  Spain  and  the  Indies.  While 
still  Prince  of  Asturias,  Charles  had  married 
Maria  Louisa  of  Parma,  and  an  intrigue  had 
commenced  between  her  and  a  private  soldier 
in  the  Prince's  guards,  named  Manuel  Godoy, 
which  was  destined  to  bear  fatal  fruit  for  Spain 
and  work  dreadful  havoc  to  Spanish  interests 
in  America.  The  weak-minded  Prince  was  him- 
self fascinated  by  the  man  who  had  dishon- 
ored him,  and  Godoy  was  rapidly  promoted. 
He  was  appointed  Adjutant  of  the  Prince's 
Guards,  then  their  Colonel,  Commander  of  the 
Order  of  Santiago,  Adjutant  General  and 
Camp  Marshal.  When  Charles  ascended  the 
throne,  Godoy  became  Brigadier  of  the  Royal 
Armies,  Gentleman  of  the  Chamber,  Commander 
of  the  Royal  Guards,  Knight  Grand  Cross  of 
the  Royal  Order  of  Charles  III.,  Grande  of 
Spain,  with  the  title  Duque  de  la  Alcudia, 
Comr  ilor  of  State  and  Superintendent  Gen- 

73 


74       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

eral  of  Mails  and  Roads.  In  1792  he  supplanted 
the  brilliant  Conde  de  Aranda  as  First  Min- 
ister of  State  and,  in  September,  1795,  he  be- 
came Principe  de  la  Paz.  Such  a  succession  of 
royal  favors  astounded  the  conservative  Court  of 
Spain,  but  they  were  without  power  to  interfere. 
Meanwhile,  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  Don  Man- 
uel Godoy  to  deny  his  recognition  of  these  obliga- 
tions. There  was  little  he  could  do  in  acknowledg- 
ment, but  what  he  could  do  he  had  already  done 
and  done  cheerfully.  It  was  not  in  his  power  to 
conduct  the  armies  of  his  Royal  Master  to  victory, 
or  to  give  his  country  a  useful  and  dignified  public 
service,  but,  that  he  might  surpass  the  King  him- 
sell  in  generosity,  he  bestowed  upon  his  royal  ben- 
efactor the  enduring  title — El  Cornudo.  The 
King  knew  the  infamy  with  which  Godoy  had  cov- 
ered him,  but  did  not  resent  it.  On  the  contrary, 
on  the  4th  of  October,  1801,  he  appointed  him 
General-in-Chief  of  the  "Armies  and  Navies  of 
Spain,"  with  precedence  over  all  the  Grandes  of 
Spain.  The  Turk,  that  two  and  fifty  kingdoms 
hath,  bore  not  so  tedious  a  style  as  Manuel  Godoy. 
Thus  Charles  recognized  the  title  of  Cornudo,  and 
added  to  it  the  culminating  stigma  of  infamy, — 
Satisfecho. 

The  Spanish  nation  had  watched  with  dismay 
the  unexampled  promotion  of  the  favorite.  They 
knew  his  obscure  origin,  his  inglorious  career, 
his  ignorance  alike  of  high  service  and  of  personal 
honor,  and  his  incapacity  for  affairs ;  they  knew 


THE  SPANISH  JUNTA  75 

also  the  abominable  source  of  the  honors  and  dig- 
nities that  had  been  lavished  upon  his  unworthy 
head.  Those  whom  for  a  moment  and  for  his  own 
base  ends  he  had  used,  despised  him,  and  the 
rest  of  Spain,  proud,  sober  and  chaste,  knew 
itself  disgraced  and  degraded  through  him  and 
execrated  him.  The  tale  of  the  royal  dishonor 
had  been  spread  before  the  King's  eyes,  indirectly 
but  convincingly,  and  the  King  had  replied  by  a 
proclamation,  that  for  the  future,  Godoy  was  "to 
be  held  and  respected  the  same  as  the  King  him- 
self." This  proclamation  was  not  addressed  to 
the  Queen  but  to  the  people  There  was  now  no 
escape  from  the  inference  that  Spain  could  only 
be  rid  of  Godoy  by  some  concerted  and  irresistible 
movement  directed  against  him.  They  had  no 
thought  of  killing  the  King;  that  purpose  was  in- 
deed discussed,  but  not  by  the  nobles  of  Spain.1 
It  was  discussed  between  Godoy,  the  King's  bene- 
ficiary and  Maria  Louisa,  his  Queen,  whom  the 
King  had  befriended  even  in  their  amours.  The 
nobles  of  Spain  desired  not  the  death  of  the  King, 
but  the  removal  of  the  favorite,  and  they  con- 
spired with  Ferdinand  that  they  might  be  freed 
from  the  intolerable  infamy  that  oppressed  them. 
Their  loyalty  to  Charles  himself  was  not  in  ques- 
tion. 

There  yet  remains  some  degree  of  mystery  as 
to  how  this  intrigue — for  it  may  hardly  be  called 

i  So  Suffolk  and  Queen  Margaret  were  accused,  with  less 
reason,  of  plotting  the  death  of  Henry  VI. 


76       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

a  conspiracy,  although  known  in  history  as  the 
"Conspiracion  del  Escorial,"  where  the  court  was 
then  staying, — became  known  to  the  King,  but 
Charles  himself,  acting  either  on  information  or 
suspicion,  went  into  his  son's  room  unexpectedly, 
and  discovered,  on  making  a  search  of  Ferdinand's 
person,  a  letter  in  cypher,  which  being  explained 
by  the  terror-stricken  Prince,  proved  to  be  a  letter 
of  instructions  from  his  associates.  This  paper 
Charles,  with  the  delicacy  of  a  father  as  well  as 
with  the  dignity  of  a  King,  laid  before  his  Coun- 
cil, although  it  bore  convincing  evidence  of  being 
directed  merely  against  Godoy. 

Ferdinand  was  overcome  with  terror.  He  hu- 
miliated himself  before  the  Council,  wrote  penitent 
letters  *  to  the  King  and  to  the  Queen,  and,  al- 

i  Ferdinand's  letters  have  been  preserved  by  the  irony 
of  history.  They  follow: 

"Senor,  Papd  mio.  He  delinquido;  he  faltado  a  Vuestra 
Magestad  como  rei  i  como  padre;  pero  me  arrepiento  i  of- 
rezco  a  Vuestra  Magestad  la  obediencia  mas  humilde.  Nada 
debia  hacer  sin  noticia  de  Vuestra  Magestad,  pero  fui  sor- 
prendido.  He  delatado  a  los  culpables,  i  pido  a  Vuestra 
Magestad  me  perdone  por  haberle  mentido  la  otra  noche, 
permitiendo  besar  sus  reales  pies  a  su  reconocido  hi  jo, 

FERNANDO." 

"Sir  and  Papa:  I  have  done  wrong,  I  have  offended  your 
Majesty  both  as  my  king  and  as  my  father;  but  I  am 
sorry  and  I  offer  Your  Majesty  my  most  humble  obedience. 
It  was  not  my  intention  to  do  anything  without  Your  Maj- 
esty's knowledge,  but  I  was  taken  by  surprise.  I  have  de- 
nounced the  guilty  ones  and  I  beg  your  Majesty  to  for- 
give me  for  telling  him  a  lie  and  to  permit  me  to  prostrate 
myself  at  his  feet  in  abject  submission.  Your  grateful  son, 

FERDINAND." 

"Sefiora,  Mama  mia.     Estoi  mui  arrepentido  del  grandis- 


THE  SPANISH  JUNTA  77 

though  he  must  have  known  that  the  worst  possible 
result  of  the  matter,  as  far  as  he  was  personally 
concerned,  was  the  severity  of  his  father's  dis- 
pleasure, he  divulged  the  names  of  all  of  his  as- 
sociates, and  even  wrote  them  down  and  signed  the 
denunciation  with  his  princely  hand,  leaving  his 
friends  naked  and  defenceless  to  the  attack  of  an 
irritated  king  and  an  exasperated  favorite.  Fer- 
dinand was  in  his  twenty-fourth  year  when,  on 
the  28th  of  October,  1807,  the  "Conspiracion  del 
Escorial"  was  discovered. 

This  is  a  wretched  tale.  It  was  the  King  who 
himself  carried  his  soiled  linen  to  be  washed  in  the 
Council,  and  it  was  the  King  who  sent  the  narrative 
of  his  spotted  home  through  all  the  provinces  of 
his  vast  empire,  and  commanded  his  letters  to  be 
published  in  every  household  of  his  colonies.  The 
first  blow  that  the  royal  prestige  received  in  the 
dependencies  of  the  crown  was  dealt  by  the  King's 
own  hand.  Ferdinand  cleared  himself  from  blame, 
but,  while  the  Council  absolved  his  associates,  the 
King  condemned  them,  some  to  exile  and  some  to 
imprisonment.  It  was  with  the  bitterness  of  de- 

simo  delito  que  he  cometido  contra  mis  padres  i  reyes;  i 
con  la  mayor  humildad  la  pido  a  Vuestra  Magestad  se 
digne  interceder  con  papd  para  que  permita  ir  a  besar  sus 
reales  pies  a  su  reconocido  hi  jo,  FERNANDO." 

"My  Lady  and  my  Mama:  I  am  full  of  sorrow  for  the 
great  offence  that  I  have  committed  against  my  royal 
parents,  and  with  the  greatest  humility  I  beseech  your  Maj- 
esty to  deign  to  intercede  for  me  with  papa,  that  I  may 
make  my  abject  submission  at  his  feet.  Your  grateful  son, 

FERDINAND/' 


78       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

spair  that  the  nobles  of  Spain  learned  the  coward- 
ice and  treachery  of  their  Prince,  and  knew  that 
they  had  been  basely  betrayed  by  the  highest  liv- 
ing exponent  of  chivalric  honor. 

The  Prince  was  as  false  to  his  father  as  he  had 
been  to  his  friends.  Being  excluded  from  their 
council,  he  entered  into  correspondence  with  Na- 
poleon, for  there  could  be  no  rest  for  Spain  while 
Godoy  held  the  highest  offices  of  state.  Ferdi- 
nand abased  himself  before  Napoleon  and  invoked 
his  aid  with  frantic  entreaties  and  extravagant 
promises,  whose  only  fulfillment  was  to  be  the  ruin 
of  hi^eountry. 

/  ^L  ** 

/Godoy^)  becoming  at  length  convinced  that  his 
position  was  one  of  personal  danger  to  himself 
from  his  infuriated  countrymen,  endeavored,  with 
the  assistance  of  the  Queen,  to  persuade  Charles 
to  abandon  Spain  and  transfer  his  throne  to 
Mexico  or  Peru,  as  a  few  months  earlier,  the 
Royal  family  of  Portugal  had  sought  Brazil  in 
order  to  escape  the  power  of  Napoleon.  He 
represented  to  the  King  the  utter  impossibility  of 
withstanding  the  Emperor,  whose  purpose  to  an- 
nex Spain  to  France  was  becoming  daily  more 
apparent ;  he  dwelt  upon  the  open  hostility  of  the 
Spaniards  to  their  King,  and  dilated  on  the  loyalty 
of  the  colonies ;  and  such  was  his  power  over 
Charles,  that  preparations  were  at  once  begun 
for  flight.  The  court  was  at  Aranjuez  when  the 
project  was  carefully  and  gradually  divulged  to 
those  whose  attendance  the  King  desired  on  his 


THE  SPANISH  JUNTA  79 

journey,  but  the  terror  and  despair  of  the  court 
at  being  thus  abandoned  by  their  monarch,  quickly 
spread  to  Madrid,  and  in  a  frenzy  of  fear  and  re- 
sentment the  excited  populace  on  March  18,  1808, 
attacked  the  royal  palace  and  compelled  Charles 
to  abdicate  in  favor  of  his  son.  Godoy  barely 
escaped  with  his  life.  This  was  the  "Conspiracion 
de  Aranjuez." 

But  with  Godoy  out  of  power,  many  of  the 
Spaniards  preferred  Charles  to  Ferdinand;  the 
nation  was  divided  and  Charles  retracted  his  ab- 
dication. Then  came  the  "family  party"  at  Bay- 
onne,  when  Napoleon  offered  to  arbitrate  between 
the  rival  kings,  and  father  and  son,  Charles  and 
Ferdinand,  resigned  their  pretensions  into  the 
Emperor's  hands,  each  expecting  to  be  favored  by 
the  Imperial  award.  Napoleon  after  examining 
the  matter,  settled  it  in  his  own  swift  way  by  order- 
ing Charles  and  Ferdinand  into  captivity,  while 
he  placed  his  brother,  Joseph,  on  the  Spanish 
throne. 

Confusion  thus  became  worse  confounded. 
There  were  now  three  kings  of  Spain, — el  rey 
padre,  el  rey  joven  and  el  rey  intruso.  Each  had 
his  adherents,  and  the  evils  of  a  civil  war  threat- 
ened to  add  themselves  to  the  less  dreadful  evils 
of  a  war  of  conquest.  Moreover,  that  nothing 
might  be  omitted  that  would  completely  bewilder 
the  affairs  of  Spain,  both  in  the  Peninsula  and 
in  the  Colonies,  another  authority  arose  in  the 
form  of  a  Council  which  charged  itself  with  the 


80       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

duty  of  representing  Ferdinand  "in  captivity." 
The  Council  took  over  the  direction  of  transmarine 
as  well  as  that  of  peninsular  affairs  and  its  au- 
thority was  recognized  generally  at  first  through- 
out the  Empire,  although  with  increasing  misgiv- 
ings in  Spain  itself,  as  its  fortunes  waned,  and  with 
increasing  distrust  in  the  colonies,  as  their  eyes 
became  opened  to  the  injustice  of  their  oppression. 
The  government  fled  from  town  to  town  before  the 
advancing  and  victorious  French,  who  easily 
gained,  one  after  another,  the  important  cities  and 
strongholds  of  Spain,  until  Cadiz  alone  remained. 
dSut  while  Spain  is  the  easiest  country  in  Eu- 
rope to  overrun,  she  is  the  most  difficult  to  subdue, 
and  the  scenes  of  the  War  of  the  Succession,  of  a 
century  earlier,  were  re-enacted  in  the  miserable 
and  distracted  peninsula.  The  cities  were  deliv- 
ered up  by  treason,  the  fortresses  fell  into  the 
enemy's  hands  without  opposition,  but  the  people 
were  staunch  and  loyal,  and  waged  a  guerrilla  war- 
fare that  cut  off  stragglers  and  small  bodies  of 
the  French,  interrupted  their  communications  and 
destroyed  their  supplies.  It  was  no  longer  warfare, 
— it  was  murder,  although  sanctified  by  patriot- 
ism, when  every  tree  sheltered  a  Spanish  gun  and 
-,  every  shot  saw  a  Frenchman  fall.  It  was  the  pro- 
test of  peasant  Spain  against  the  invasion  of  Na- 
poleon, and  after  their  strongholds  had  fallen, 
their  generals  had  become  pensioners  of  Napoleon, 
and  their  nobles  had  betrayed  their  trusts  to  the 
enemy,  the  peasants  took  up  the  defense  of  Spain, 


THE  SPANISH  JUNTA  81 

vindicated  its  honor  and  achieved  its  independence. 
Napier  perhaps  underestimated  the  valor  of  Pala- 
fox,  but  Wellington  writing  from  Celorico,  on 
May  11,  1810,  to  Lieut.  Col.  Graham,  says  of 
the  character  of  the  Spaniards,  "They  have  never 
been  equal  to  the  adoption  of  any  solid  plan,  or 
to  the  execution  of  any  system  of  steady  resist- 
ance to  the  enemy,  by  which  their  situation  might 
be  gradually  improved ;"  and  in  a  despatch  dated, 
December  2nd,  1810,  he  says,  "I  am  afraid  that 
the  Spaniards  will  bring  us  all  to  shame  yet ;  after 
having  been  shut  up  in  Cadiz  for  ten  months,  they 
have  not  prepared  the  works  necessary  for  their 
defense,  notwithstanding  the  repeated  remon- 
strances of  General  Graham  and  the  British  offi- 
cers, on  the  danger  of  omitting  them."  No  better 
judge  had  ever  a  better  opportunity  of  forming 
an  opinion.  But,  whatever  faults  of  enterprise 
and  discipline  pervaded  the  regular  troops,  the 
Spanish  peasants  were  excellently  adapted  to  the 
prosecution  of  guerrilla  warfare. 

"War  in  Spain,"  said  Macaulay,  "has,  from  the 
days  of  the  Romans,  had  a  character  of  its  own ; 
it  is  a  fire  that  cannot  be  raked  out;  it  burns 
fiercely  under  the  embers;  and  long  after  it  has, 
to  all  seeming,  been  extinguished,  bursts  out  more 
violently  than  ever.  Spain  had  no  army  which 
could  have  looked  in  the  face  an  equal  number  of 
French  or  Prussian  soldiers ;  but  one  day  laid  the 
Prussian  monarchy  in  the  dust;  one  day  put  the 
crown  of  France  at  the  disposal  of  invaders.  No 


82       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Jena,  no  Waterloo,  would  have  enabled  Joseph  to 
reign  quietly  in  Madrid." 

The  Arabs  in  conquering  Spain,  achieved  an 
absolute  and  complete  conquest.  They  left  no 
hamlet  unsubdued,  no  mountain  pass  unoccupied. 
Many  Christians  were  suffered  to  live  among  them, 
under  such  easy  conditions  of  religious  observance 
and  personal  service,  that  there  is  scarcely  an  in- 
stance of  revolt  breaking  out  among  them,  but, 
apart  from  these  slaves  of  the  soil,  whose  lives 
were  purchased  at  the  price  of  continuous  sub- 
mission, the  Spaniards  were  slain  without  ruth  or 
ransom  until  the  last  gasp  of  opposition  was 
stifled.  Among  the  mountains  of  Sobrarbe  and 
Oviedo,  a  few  desperate  waifs,  thrown  madly  upon 
these  rugged  rocks,  where  they  clung  like  limpets, 
prayed  only  that  they  might  escape  detection, 
while  they  watched  with  wild  eyes  the  movements 
of  their  enemies,  as  the  receding  wave  of  con- 
quest settled  in  the  plains  below.  Gradually  they 
rallied  from  the  stupor  of  utter  defeat  and  began 
to  engage  in  petty  warfare  with  the  Arabs,  who 
scarcely  heeded  them  in  their  disdain.  Little  by 
little,  they  pushed  the  invaders  back,  adding  at  first 
field  to  field  like  a  miser,  then  capturing  hamlet 
and  pass  and  hilltop  like  a  covetous  baron.  Slowly 
their  possessions  spread.  One  of  their  number, 
Pelayo,  "The  Fighter,"  they  raised  aloft  upon 
their  great  Gothic  shields  and  hailed  "King." 
Then  was  first  heard  the  battle  cry  of  Spain,  "San- 
tiago i  a  ellos,"  which  rang  over  the  peninsula 


THE  SPANISH  JUNTA  83 

through  seven  hundred  years  of  warfare,  until 
they  had  driven  the  Moslem  across  the  narrow  sea 
and  retrieved  in  seven  centuries  what  they  had  lost 
in  a  few  months. — Not  Russia,  but  Spain,  was  the 
rock  upon  which  Napoleon  split,  <^-"" 

For  many  years  Spain  had  followed  Napoleojt- 
with  the  infatuation  of  an  unmerited  reverence. 
She  had  always  done  his  bidding1.  It  was  Napo- 
leon who  shaped  her  foreign  policy  in  peace  and 
war,  who  dictated  her  treaties,  who  sent  her  fleet 
to  destruction  at  Trafalgar.  She  was  obedient 
to  him  to  the  point  of  servility.  If  instead  of 
sending  Murat  across  the  Pyrenees  with  one  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  Napoleon  had  requested  Spain 
to  furnish  him  with  an  army  corps,  his  command 
would  have  been  received  with  instant  submission. 
His  invasion  of  the  Peninsula,  the  inconsiderate 
act  of  a  self-confident  despot,  converted  a  sub- 
servient ally  into  a  resentful  enemy.  He  entered 
Spain  as  a  burglar,  in  the  pursuit  of  his  profes- 
sional aim,  might  enter  at  midnight  the  house  of 
a  devoted  friend.  The  house  and  the  household 
were  already  his,  if  he  had  cared  to  know  it,  but  the 
one  thing  in  the  world  of  possibilities,  that  Spain 
would  resent,  and  the  only  thing  that  he  could  not 
do  with  impunity,  was  the  thing  he  did. 

Being  deceived  and  robbed  by  her  friend  Na- 
poleon, Spain  had  yet  to  undergo  the  unpalatable 
humiliation  of  being  succored  by  her  hated  enemy, 
England.  No  wonder  that  all  Spain  was  luke- 
warm, and  that  Grandes  and  officers  found  it 


84       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

easier  to  forgive  Napoleon  their  spoliation,  than 
to  acknowledge  the  English  to  be  their  benefactors. 

Meanwhile,  the  Council  of  Spain  continued, 
after  the  fall  and  imprisonment  of  Charles  and 
Ferdinand,  to  maintain  the  royal  cause,  and  was 
recognized  alike  by  the  Peninsular  and  the  Colonial 
Spaniards,  as  representing  the  King.  But,  ac-  * 
customed  merely  to  transmit  the  royal  commands, 
the  Council  flacked  confidence)as  well  as  experience 
in  assuming  the  initiative  in  the  urgent  crisis  that 
confronted  the  country,  and  feared  to  take  the  re- 
sponsibility of  active  decision.  They  dreaded  the 
King's  anger,  if  they  acknowledged  the  French 
usurper,  and  the  French  if  they  remained  loyal  to 
Ferdinand. 

Quickly,  as  the  result  of  this  indecision,  there 
arose  throughout  the  Peninsula,  local  committees 
of  provincial  government,  called  Juntas,  which  dis- 
\puted  the  authority  and  impaired  the  prestige  of 
The  Council.  Joseph,  now  known  as  the  King 
whom  Napoleon  had  decided  to  give  to  them,  was 
not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  this  propitious  di- 
vision. By  the  adroit  alternation  of  recognition 
and  contempt,  he  depressed  the  reputation  of  the 
Council  until  it  became  an  object  of  resentment 
to  the  Spaniards  themselves. 

As  the  importance  of  the  Council  declined,  that 
of  the  provincial  Juntas  acquired  a  temporary 
predominance,  but  it  soon  became  manifest  that 
there  could  arise  from  them  no  unanimity  of  pur- 
pose and  no  provision  for  the  general  welfare  of 


THE  SPANISH  JUNTA  85 

the  nation.  Into  the  petty  medley  of  selfish  and 
local  politics  that  ensued,  it  would  be  tedious  to 
enter.  The  Juntas  of  Leon,  Asturias  and  Galicia, 
neglecting  the  menace  of  a  common  enemy,  were 
in  open  strife  among  themselves,  while  the  internal 
condition  of  each  province  was  one  of  family 
hatred,  of  local  feuds  and  personal  greed.  Ig- 
norant and  incapable  as  the  provincial  gentry 
were,  they  became  arrogant  and  haughty  with  the 
sudden  assumption  of  unaccustomed  authority. 
The  provincial  Juntas,  led  by  such  ignoble  chiefs, 
denied  aid  to  each  other  and  refused  to  permit 
their  militia  to  engage  with  the  enemy  beyond  the 
narrow  limits  of  their  particular  province,  while 
they  resented  the  control  of  any  central  authority 
as  an  injury  to  their  pretensions.  No  concert 
was  possible  among  provinces  which  denied  any 
authority  paramount  to  their  own?  and  which  even 
refused  to  recognize  as  equal  to  themselves  the 
similarly  constituted  Juntas  of  any  of  the  other 
provinces.  Galicia  refused  openly  to  act  with  her 
neighbor,  and  Seville  made  no  secret  of  her  pre- 
tensions to  supremacy  among  her  equals,  while 
the  money  and  stores  received  from  England  were 
diverted  from  the  provincial  treasuries  and  ap- 
propriated to  the  use  of  the  individuals  composing 
the  Juntas.  The  actual  approach  of  the  French 
and  their  subjection  of  province  after  province  in 
their  victorious  march,  were  inadequate  to  allay 
the  jealousy  and  hostility  among  the  provinces 
that  remained  unsubdued,  and  to  awaken  them  to 


86       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

any  general  concert  of  action.  Thus  they  lost 
all  reputation  for  patriotism  and  efficiency,  and 
became  universally  odious  to  the  nation.  They 
were  suffered  to  exist,  for  there  was  no  local  au- 
thority that  could  under  the  circumstances  be 
invoked  to  supersede  them,  but  all  hope  was  de- 
parted from  their  councils  and  all  unanimity  of  ef- 
fort seemed  impossible. 

In  the  general  confusion  and  bewilderment,  how- 
ever, there  arose  at  last  among  the  provinces,  a 
recognition  of  the  absolute  need  of  some  national 
body  which  should  direct  peninsular  and  colonial 
affairs,  and  for  a  moment  they  laid  aside  their 
jealousies  and  sent  delegates  to  Aranjuez,  where 
a  Junta  Central  was  elected  to  take  over  the  con- 
trol of  the  state.  Upon  this  body  the  general 
hope  of  Spain  was  fixed,  and  the  national  con- 
sent rallied  to  enhance  its  control  and  confirm  its 
authority.  The  provincial  Juntas  also  yielded 
their  recognition  to  the  new  government,  which 
from  this  acquisition  of  authority  sprang  at  once 
into  the  uncontrolled  exercise  of  supreme  power. 

But  the  first  enactments  of  this  body  presaged 
the  ineptitude  of  their  administration.  They  de- 
clared : —  j 

1st: — That  their  own  persons  were  inviolable, 
and  that  disobedience  or  disrespect  were  to  be  re- 
garded as  high  treason. 

2nd: — That  the  President  of  the  Junta  should 
have  the  style  of  "Highness"  and  the  other 


THE  SPANISH  JUNTA  87 

bers  that  of  "Excellency,"  while  the  Junta  as  a 
body  was  styled  "Majesty."         ; 

3rd: — That  the  President's  salary  should  be 
twenty-five  thousand  crowns  annually,  and  that  of 
the  members  five  thousand  crowns. 

The  regulation  of  precedency  and  the  discussion 
of  a  public  ceremonial  occupied  their  time  and  con- 
sumed the  patience  of  the  country  for  months. 
Not  until  these  vital  questions  could  be  decided, 
was  any  thought  taken  to  conserve  the  national 
territory,  dignity  and  honor. 

They  next  proceeded,  in  the  pursuit  of  their 
own  interests,  to  persecute  the  provincial  Juntas, 
and  for  this  purpose  maintained  spies  in  every 
province,  to  denounce  secretly  any  person  who 
might  seem  to  incline  to  the  French  cause,  or 
who  might  seek  to  disparage  the  authority  of  the 
Junta  Central.  Many  persons  thus  denounced 
were  seized  and  executed,  without  knowing  who 
were  their  accusers  and  without  learning  the 
nature  of  their  accusations.  Meanwhile,  they  neg- 
lected the  interests  of  the  state  and  evaded  the 
obligations  of  their  alliance. 

So  far  were  the  English  from  receiving  any  ef- 
fective help  from  the  Junta  Central  that  even  the 
supplies  of  money  and  arms  that  were  furnished 
by  England  to  fit  out  the  forces  with  which  Spain 
was  to  aid  her  allies,  were  either  sold,  appropriated 
or  concealed  by  the  Peninsular  authorities.  It  is 
true  that  the  English  were  fighting  for  their  own 


88       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

interests,  that  they  were  the  enemies  of  Napoleon 
before  they  became  the  allies  of  Spain;  it  is  true 
also  that  the  sympathies  of  many  Spaniards  were 
more  easily  and  more  naturally  enlisted  on  the 
side  of  Napoleon,  whom  they  admired,  than  on  the 
side  of  their  hereditary  foes  the  English,  whom 
they  hated ;  but  the  dignity  of  the  nation  was  com- 
promised infinitely  by  the  Junta  Central,  the  pro- 
vincial Juntas  and  the  Spanish  nobility,  who  saw 
their  country  made  a  mere  battlefield  for  the  settle- 
ment of  European  politics,  without  venturing  to 
take  a  decisive  part  with  the  allies  who  were  fight- 
ing their  battles  as  well  as  their  own. 

Such  was  the  early  history  of  the  Junta  Central. 
"In  any  other  country,"  said  General  Napier, 
"the  conduct  of  the  government  would  have  been 
attributed  to  insanity;  continually  devising  how  to 
enjoy  the  luxury  of  power  without  its  labor,  how 
to  acquire  reputation  without  trouble,  how  to  be 
indolent  and  victorious  at  the  same  moment.  So 
apathetic  with  respect  to  the  enemy  as  to  be  con- 
temptible, so  active  in  the  pursuit  of  self-interest 
as  to  become  hateful."  Their  folly  and  their 
weakness  were  alike  incredible.  Their  President 
was  that  Count  of  Florida-blanca,  who  had  for 
fifteen  years  sat  at  the  head  of  the  council  board 
under  Charles  III.  and  Charles  IV.  as  Prime  Min- 
ister, but  he  was  now  old  and  weak  and  worn-out 
and  soon  to  die. 

As  the  authority  of  Folly  waned,  that  of  Dis- 
cord revived,  and  the  provincial  Juntas,  with  the 


THE  SPANISH  JUNTA  89 

return  of  their  local  control,  resumed  also  their 
mutual  animosities.  But  these  were  not  long  to 
endure.  As  one  province  after  another  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  French,  martial  law  was  enforced, 
and  the  inhabitants  who  remained  in  the  towns  and 
villages  were  compelled  to  submit  to  French  control, 
until  the  Junta  of  Seville  alone  survived  to  with- 
stand the  pretensions  of  the  Junta  Central,  which 
was  now  become  the  object  of  universal  contempt. 
On  January  24,  1810,  the  Junta  Central  wasi/ 
dissolved  and  its  members  ignominiously  dispersed 
by  the  Junta  of  Seville. 

But  before  flying  in  disgrace  from  Seville,  the 
members  of  the  Junta  Central  took  at  length  the 
advice  that  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  had  long  since 
given  them,  and  named  a  "Supreme  Council  of  Re- 
gency." This  body  succeeded  in  effecting  its  or- 
ganization in  Cadiz  on  the  31st  of  January,  1810. 
With  a  new  name,  a  new  purpose  seemed  to  be  in- 
fused into  the  government.  Dignity  and  efficiency 
were  recalled  to  the  Spanish  councils,  and  Welles- 
Icy  learned  that  there  yet  remained  to  the  Spanish 
character  an  integrity  and  a  vigor  which  he  had 
despaired  to  find.  Still  it  was  too  late  for  the 
Spanish  Council  of  Regency  to  retrieve  the  errors 
of  the  Junta  Central  in  its  colonial  administration. 

As  the  purpose  of  this  brief  sketch  of  the  vicis- 
situdes of  the  Junta  Central  was  only  rendered 
necessary  to  explain  the  impression  on  the  colo- 
nists of  the  proceedings  of  the  Peninsular  au- 
thorities who  conducted  also  Colonial  affairs,  it 


90       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

would  be  entirely  impertinent  to  enter  into  any 
consideration,  however  brief,  of  the  conduct  of  the 
armies  that  marched  and  met  and  conquered  or 
were  defeated  during  the  five  years  following  1808. 
Nor  do  the  subsequent  transactions  of  the  Su- 
preme Council  of  Regency  fall  within  the  scope  of 
the  present  inquiry  farther  than  to  justify  the  re- 
mark that  it  was  this  body  that  stimulated  the 
formation  of  the  guerrilla  bands  (partidas),  which 
contributed  so  largely  to  the  success  of  Welling- 
ton's plans.  General  Napier  underrates  im- 
mensely the  value  of  these  irregular  companies,  be- 
cause they  offended  the  instincts  and  traditions  of 
the  trained  soldier,  but  surely  it  was  no  slight  help 
to  Wellington  to  be  able  to  send  his  despatches  in 
any  direction,  to  any  distance  and  at  any  hour, 
while  the  French  commander  was  obliged  to  detail 
a  colonel  with  five  hundred  men  to  send  a  letter 
twenty  miles  from  his  headquarters.  Of  the 
further  conduct  of  affairs  by  the  Supreme  Council 
of  Regency,  which  remained  in  control  for  over 
three  years,  when  it  yielded  its  authority  to  the 
Cortes,  it  is  only  necessary  to  record  here  that 
they  withdrew  from  service  in  the  Peninsula  the 
forces  which  from  time  to  time  they  sent  to  Amer- 
ica, and,  but  for  the  fact  that  England  was  fight- 
ing their  battles  at  home,  they  would  thus  have 
exposed  themselves,  as  far  as  it  lay  in  their  hands, 
to  the  complete  destruction  of  their  very  existence 
as  a  nation. 


PART  III 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

"Albricias,  Chile!     ya  la  hermosa  aurora, 
Nuncio  feliz  del  bello  i  claro  dia, 
Va  saliendo." 

MANUEL  FERNANDEZ. 
"Good    tidings,     Chile!     Now    the    happy 

dawn, 

Herald  of  prosperous  and  unclouded  day, 
Begins  to  break." 

The  stars  in  their  courses  fought  against 
Spain,  and  no  one  contributed  more  strangely  to 
the  independence  of  Chile  than  Don  Ambrosio 
O'Higgins,  the  most  energetic  and  devoted  official 
that  Spain  possessed  in  America  during  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Ambrose  Higgins  was  an  Irish 
lad,  who  was  born  about  the  year  1720  in  Sum- 
merhill,  County  Meath,  Ireland,  about  thirty 
miles  northwest  of  Dublin.  As  a  lad  he  entered 
as  stableboy  the  service  of  the  old  Countess  of 
Summerhill,  "Condesa  de  Bective,"  as  the  Span- 
ish called  her,  whose  estates  lay  in  County  Meath. 
Here  for  some  }~ears  he  remained,  fulfilling  his 
humble  duties  faithfully,  but  as  he  grew  older  the 
restlessness  of  an  uncertain  ambition  drove  him 
from  Ireland  to  Spain,  where  through  the  aid  or 
influence  of  an  uncle  who  was  in  holy  orders  in 
that  country,  he  hoped  to  improve  his  condition. 

93 


94     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

But  for  all  his  uncle's  help,  Spain  offered  little 
to  gratify  the  eager  ambition  of  the  Irish  youth. 
He  learned  the  language  of  Spain  and  worked 
for  a  trifle  of  wages  in  the  store  of  a  merchant  of 
Cadiz.  Here  also  he  remained  for  years,  until  the 
cumulative  monotony  of  his  narrow  life  convinced 
him  that  Spain  was  not  for  him  the  land  of  hope 
that  he  had  thought,  and  compelled  him  to  seek 
fresh  fields.  He  turned  to  Peru,  and  with  a  little 
stock  of  merchandise  that  was  entrusted  to  him 
by  his  employer  in  Cadiz,  he  landed  at  Callao. 
In  Lima,  on  his  arrival,  he  was  thrown  into  prison 
by  the  Inquisition  on  the  suspicion  of  heresy. 
His  certificates  were  in  proper  form  and  his  permit 
to  leave  Cadiz  for  Peru  "for  commercial  purposes" 
was  duly  made  out  by  the  Council,  but  he  was  an 
Irishman,  a  foreigner,  and  necessarily  a  suspicious 
person.  At  length,  however,  he  succeeded  in  satis- 
fying the  Peruvian  Inquisitors  as  to  his  character 
and  purposes  and  was  discharged,  but  his  goods, 
his  merchandise,  that  had  been  seized  at  the  time 
of  his  arrest,  had  disappeared,  and  on  presenting 
a  memorial  pleading  for  restitution,  he  was 
haughtily  informed  that  his  release  from  imprison- 
ment was  an  act  of  grace  with  which  he  must  be 
contented  and  make  no  further  requisitions  on  the 
Holy  Office.  Destitute  now,  and  more  than  desti- 
tute, since  he  still  owed  for  the  little  stock  so  sum- 
marily and  so  unjustly  taken  from  him,  but  full  of 
hope  and  courage,  he  started  out  as  a  peddler 
traveling  from  house  to  house  through  the  country 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     95 

with  his  pack  on  his  back.  Even  in  this  he  failed, 
not  from  any  sloth  or  dishonesty,  for  these  were 
never  in  him,1  but  from  the  continued  opposition 
of  the  Inquisitors,  who,  in  resentment  of  his  temer- 
ity in  requiring  at  their  hands  the  restitution  of 
his  confiscated  merchandise,  subjected  him  to  con- 
stant and  harassing1  restrictions.  Finding  his 
little  affairs  involved  beyond  hope  of  extrication, 
and  realizing  the  necessity  of  withdrawing  himself 
if  possible  from  the  malevolent  supervision  of  the 
Inquisition,  he  obtained  from  his  creditors  per- 
mission to  leave  Peru,  and  was  even  entrusted  by 
them  with  the  conduct  of  certain  speculations  that 
they  wished  to  set  on  foot  in  Chile.  To  Concep- 
cion  he  went,  but  misfortune  again  frustrated  his 
expectations,  and  the  project  proved  a  total  fail- 
ure. An  ordinary  man  would  have  been  over-\/ 
whelmed  with  despair  after  suffering  these  succes- 
sive blows.  Even  an  extraordinary  man,  who  had 
endured  such  multitudinous  reverses,  would  have 
lost  confidence  in  himself  and  hope  in  the  future. 
Higgins  had  now  reached  the  age  of  fifty-three 
years,  and  if  ever  a  man  was  justified  in  consider- 
ing himself  an  absolute  failure,  it  was  he.  But 
the  Goddess  of  Destiny  was  at  last  worn  out.  In- 
stead of  subduing  him,  she  had  been  herself  sub- 
dued ;  when  she  buffeted  him,  she  herself  received 
the  blow.  Nothing  could  impair  his  courage; 
and  now  at  last  the  wheel  of  Fortune  began  to 
turn,  and,  as  before  she  had  overwhelmed  him 
i  Nunquam  animus  negotio  defuit,  nee  decretis  labor. 


96      THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

in  disaster  and  ruin,  so  now  there  was  no  limit 
to  his  prosperity,  and  within  a  few  years  he  at- 
tained the  most  coveted  and  most  exalted  position 
in  the  world,  next  to — or  perhaps  even  including — 
royalty.  He  became  Viceroy  of  Peru.  Still  the 
first  step  upwards  might  well  have  seemed  the 
last  step  down.  He  enlisted  in  the  Spanish  army 
in  Concepcion. 

But  now  everything  was  propitious  to  him. 
The  Araucans  had  long  been  restless  and  resent- 
ful, and  in  this  same  year  of  177&,  they  arose  with 
the  purpose  of  sweeping  the  Spaniards  into  the 
ocean.  The  forts  beyond  the  river  Bio-bio  dis- 
appeared like  clouds  before  their  furious  onset, 
and  the  walls  of  the  frontier  cities  were  crushed 
as  if  they  had  been  made  of  paper.  Northward 
the  furious  horde  swept  like  fire  through  forest 
pines,  or  Eurus  over  the  Sicilian  waves.  Concep- 
cion was  invested  and  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
kingdom.  Terror  fell  upon  Santiago,  and  all 
plans  were  bewildered  by  the  sudden  and  irre- 
sistible onslaught.  Higgins  seemed  the  only  per- 
son in  Concepcion  who  retained  tranquillity.  He 
suggested  to  his  Commander  the  wisdom  of  coun- 
teracting the  rapid  progress  of  the  Araucans  with 
a  body  of  mounted  light  infantry  or  dragoons. 
His  plan  was  accepted  because  it  alone  offered  hope 
and  the  command  was  given  to  him.  He  succeeded 
in  his  purpose,  succeeded  even  beyond  his  hopes, 
and  was  advanced  to  Lieutenant  Colonel.  His 
regiment  was  the  salvation  of  Chile,  and  became 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE       97 

famous  under  the  name  "Dragones  de  la  Fron- 
tera,"  and  Higgins,  whose  name  was  now  Don  Am- 
brosio  O'Higgins,  became  colonel.  The  war  had 
by  this  time  ceased,  and  Colonel  O'Higgins  busied 
himself  with  a  system  of  defense  for  the  kingdom 
both  against  "foreign  invasion  and  against  the 
assaujjg^jfJteAmuat^ — This  plan  wasadopted 
by  the  Captain  General,  and  the  name  of  O'Hig- 
gins was  mentioned  with  admiration  in  the  Court 
of  Charles  III.  It  was  at  this  time  that  he  built 
the  road  from  San  Felipe  over  the  Andes  to  Men- 
doza  and  erected  the  little  stone  casuchas  for  the 
shelter  of  travelers,  in  which  the  writer  of  this 
book  has  found  a  refuge  and  breathed  his  simple 
benediction  on  the  memory  of  Don  Ambrosio 
O'Higgins. 

When  fortune  came  finally  to  O'Higgins,  she 
came  with  both  hands  full.  He  next  became 
the  Intendente  of  Concepcion,  then  the  second 
city  in  the  kingdom.  *  But  before  this  office  was 
conferred  upon  him,  he  had  found  time  to  be- 
come the  father  of  Don  Bernardo  O'Higgins^ 
"the  child  of  his  love  and  his  old  age,'.'  who  was 
destined  to  play  a  great  part  in  the  drama  of 
independence.  Bernardo  was  his  greatest  gift  to 
Chile,  but  when,  in  1788,  he  became  the  King's 
immediate  representative,  as  Captain  General  and 
Governor  of  Chile,  he  effected  a  reform  of  unex- 
ampled importance  in  freeing  the  Araucans  from 
servitude  and  placing  them  on  the  same  political 
footing  with  the  Chileans  of  Spanish  descent.  In 


98       THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

a  despatch  to  the  king  dated  from  Quillota,  on 
the  3rd  day  of  April,  1789,  Don  Ambrosio  an- 
nounced the  settlement  of  this  really  momentous 
question.  This 


tribes  of  the  South,  and  prevented  them  from  en- 
gaging actively  with  the  Peninsular  forces  in  the 
struggle  for  independence.  For  the  continuous 
benefit  of  this  final  and  complete  settlement  of  the 
Araucan  question,  the  Chileans  of  to-day  owe  him 
a  burden  of  gratitude  that  they  are  not  loth  to 
confess.  Spain,  too,  perceiving  only  the  im- 
mediate benefit,  and  fearing,  no  more  than  O'Hig- 
gins  himself  feared,  the  effect  of  this  conciliation 
upon  the  security  of  their  dominion,  was  not  re- 
miss in  rewarding  its  author,  and  from  Baron  de 
Vallenar  created  him  Marquis  de  Osorno,  and 
finally  advanced  him,  the  stable  boy  of  the 
Countess  of  Summerhill,  the  drygoods  clerk  of 
Cadiz,  the  bankrupt  peddler  of  Lima,  to  the  post 
that  the  proudest  Grandes  of  Spain  longed  for 
in  vain,  —  the  Viceroyalty  of  Peru/ 

In  1779,  Colonel  O'Higgins,  then  in  the  sixtieth 
year  of  his  age,  was  engaged  in  perfecting  the 
scheme  that  he  had  devised  for  the  protection  of 
the  Chilean  frontier.  In  the  prosecution  of  this 
plan,  he  spent  some  time  in  Chilian  and  was,  as 
Vicuna-Mackenna  conjectures,  a  guest  in  the 
family  of  the  Riquelme,  one  of  the  well-to-do 
proprietors  of  that  district.  V  In  what  manner 
or  by  the  exhibition  of  what  unsuspected  graces, 
the  elderly  Irish  soldier  achieved  the  conquest 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE       99 

of  the  daughter  of  the  house,  one  can  scarcely 
imagine.  His  portrait,  taken  a  few  years  later, 
still  shows  his  erect  figure  unsubdued  by  the 
constant  buffetings  of  adverse  fortune,  his  severe 
face,  his  calm  eye,  his  haughty  carriage,  his 
corpulent  figure,  but  there  is  no  beauty  in  him 
that  Dona  Isabel  de  Riquelme,  a  maid  of  fifteen, 
should  desire  him.  However,  in  1780  she  bore  him  a 
son  whom  he  acknowledged  at  once  as  his  own,  and 
for  whose  maintenance  and  education  he  provided 
liberally.  It  is  not  likely  that  there  was  any  prom- 
ise of  marriage,  for  Don  Ambrosio  was  not  a  man 
to  make  a  promise  that  he  had  no  intention  to 
fulfill,  and  he  knew  well  that  his  expectation  of 
future  power  and  authority  would  be  blasted  be- 
yond all  hope  by  a  marriage  with  a  Chilean,  but 
there  seems  to  have  remained  no  resentment  in 
the  minds  of  her  family  at  the  issue  of  the  affair, 
no  importunate  clamor  was  raised  against  him, 
and  no  reproach  seems  ever  to  have  been  directed 
against  the  young  lady,  who  afterwards  married 
Don  Felix  Rodriguez,  and  in  time  presented  him 
with  a  daughter,  between  whom  and  Bernardo 
there  ever  existed  the  most  beautiful  fraternal  af- 
fection. The  family  of  Don  Simon  Riquelme, 
Isabel's  father,  was  a  proud  one,  tracing  their 
pedigree  directly  from  the  treasurer  of  Francisco 
Pizarro,  Alonzo  Riquelme,  whose  corpulence  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  Inca  Atahuallpa  when, 
before  his  execution  in  the  public  square  of  Cuzco, 
he  saw  him  standing  with  Almagro  in  conversa- 


100     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

tion.  "The  fat  one"  said  the  Inca,  "and  the  one- 
eyed  one  will  kill  me  between  them."  ("De  ese 
gordo  i  de  este  tuerto  temo  que  me  maten.") 

When  Don  Bernardo  was  living  in  exile  in  Lima, 
in  1833,  an  ungenerous  enemy  wrote  a  libel  on 
him,  in  which  the  charge  was  made  that  he  owed 
his  birth  to  chance.  "Not  to  chance,"  said  Don 
Bernardo,  raising  his  eyes,  moist  with  tears  at  this 
ignoble  stab,  "not  to  chance,  but  to  Providence." 

When  Bernardo  was  nine  years  old,  his  father, 
now  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  Chile,  sent 
him  to  Lima  to  be  educated  at  the  famous  school 
"El  Principe."  Here  he  was  entered  as  Bernardo 
Riquelme,  for  his  father  always  refused  to  give 
him  his  own  name,  and  pursued  the  life  of  a  school 
boy  in  a  brilliant  city,  until  he  had  attained  the 
age  of  fifteen  years,  when  he  was  sent  to  England. 
Here  he  lived  for  five  years,  at  school  in  Rich- 
mond on  the  Thames.  There  are  extant  some 
apocryphal  narratives,  by  the  imaginative  Albano, 
of  his  presentation  to  George  III.,  and  of  his  in- 
timacy with  some  of  the  most  eminent  contempo- 
rary Englishmen,  but  the  journal  of  Bernardo 
himself,  which  is  also  extant,  affords  no  support  to 
these  fanciful  tales.  He  may  have  seen  the  king 
walking  in  his  gardens  at  Kew.  His  Majesty 
may  have  observed  the  comely  youth  with  red 
cheeks  and  blue  eyes  and  curly  hair;  he  may 
even  have  questioned  him  a  little,  and  found  out 
tq  his  surprise  that  the  lad  with  the  Irish  features 
was  the  son  of  the  Viceroy  of  Peru,  and  an  an- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     101 

cient  subject  of  Great  Britain,  but  there  is  no 
valid  basis  for  any  statement  that  he  ever  saw 
George  III.  and  conjecture  is  without  value  on 
a  subject  that  is,  like  this  one,  devoid  of  impor- 
tance. Bernardo  seems  to  have  been  supplied 
with  ample  funds  by  his  father  through  Don  Nic- 
olas Cruz  of  Cadiz,  to  have  spent  his  time  study- 
ing mathematics,  music  and  painting,  and  to  have 
lived  the  simple,  pure  life  of  an  English  lad  at  a 
private  school.  Toward  the  end  of  his  stay  in 
England,  however,  he  made  one  acquaintance 
which  was  destined  to  have  the  most  momentous 
influence  upon  his  own  career,  upon  his  fath- 
er's life,  and  upon  the  future  of  Chile.  This  re- 
markable incident  is  much  too  important  to  dis- 
miss hurriedly.  Bernardo  became  intimate  with 
Don  Francisco  Miranda. 

"""Among  the  many  men  who  contributed  to  make 
the  year  1810  possible  in  Spanish  America,  the 
most  influential  was  unquestionably  Miranda. 
Born  in  Venezflela^^hlP  became,  while  stilFa  youth, 
an  officer  inthe  army  of  Spain.  He  came  with 
tafayetteToTaid  the  American  Colonies  against 
Britain,  having  even  at  the  early  age  of  twenty 
become  a  Captain  in  the  Spanish  service.  This 
incident  in  Miranda's  adventurous  life  has  given 
occasion  to  some  historians  to  magnify,  and  to 
others  to  distort,  the  actual  fact.  Spain  sent  no 
"ejercito  de  ausilio"  to  the  colonies  in  1779,  under 
the  leadership  of  a  youth  in  his  twenties  from 
Venezuela.  Miranda  probably  came  as  a  volun- 


102     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

teer,  and  perhaps  served  on  Lafayette's  staff.  At 
all  events  and  under  whatever  circumstances,  he 
came  to  aid  the  American  colonies.  Washington 
he  revered  above  all  mortal  men,  recognizing  in 
him  the  realization  of  all  the  ardent  ideals  of  his 
impulsive  heart.  Doubtless  it  was  here  in  Yjr_- 
ginia  that  the  great  purpose  first  entered  his  soul 
to  devote  his  life  to  the  emancipation  of  Spanish 
America,  but  he  left  no  enduring  mark  of  His 
presence  here  and  any  narrative  of  his  activities 
on  our  soil  would  be  apocryphal.  In  England,  we 
hear  of  him  as  the  friend  of  Fox,  in  Russia  he  was 
received  kindly  by  the  Empress  Catherine,  who  set 
aside  a  sum  of  money  for  him  to  use  in  propagat- 
ing his  revolutionary  schemes,  in  France  he  com- 
manded a  division  of  the  Army  of  the  Republic, 
and  on  his  return  to  England  'he  established  a 
secret  society,  that  soon  became  famous  under  the 
name  of  the  "Gran  Reunion  Americana." 

Erected  on  the  model  of  the  Lodges  of  Free 
Masonry  that  wielded  such  a  beneficent  influence 
for  humanity  during  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
conforming  in  great  part  with  Masonic  principles 
and  methods,  the  "Reunion"  included  in  its  rolls 
many  of  the  foremost  patriots  of  Spanish  America. 
There  were  found  registered  the  names  of  Narino, 
San  Martin,  Fretes,  Cortes,  Yznaga,  Bejarano, 
and  many  others  who  represented  every  Spanish 
American  Colony  from  Cuba  to  Chile.  When 
Miranda  had  satisfied  himself  that  Bernardo  pos- 
sessed those  qualities  of  character  that  would  ren- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     103 

der  him  steadfast  as  well  as  enthusiastic,  he  opened 
before  him  the  great  purpose  of  achieving  the  in- 
dependence of  all  of  the  Spanish  Colonies  in 
America  by  one  concerted  and  irresistible  move- 


ment, and  O'Higgins  joined  the  lodge  and  took 
the  necessary  oaths  of  fidelity  and  service.  It  is 
interesting  to  know  that  a  few  years  later  Simon 
Bolivar  also  joined  the  same  order,  took  the  same 
oaths  and  fulfilled  with  equal  fidelity  the  solemn 
engagements  which  joined  him  with  San  Martin 
and  O'Higgins  in  overthrowing  the  power  in 
America  of  the  King  of  Spain. 

In  July,  1799,  Don  Bernardo  left  England  for 
Cadiz,  filled  with  the  most  eager  desire  to  return 
home  that  he  might  put  into  practice  the  precepts 
of  his  teacher,  Miranda.  Already  he  saw  himself 
inaugurating  in  Chile  the  patriotic  movement  for 
liberty,  and  all  good  men  and  true  rallying  at  his 
summons.  A  thousand  plans  passed  through  his 
excited  mind,  snatching  him  from  sleep  and  im- 
mersing him  in  ardent  and  generous  imaginings. 
But  at  Cadiz  disappointment  met  him.  Don  Nic- 
olas, Don  Ambrosio's  agent,  had  no  money  for  his 
needs  and  no  concern  for  his  disappointment.  A 
strange  reticence  fell  between  Don  Nicolas,  who 
offered  no  explanation  of  his  discourtesy,  and 
Don  Bernardo,  offended  and  humiliated,  who  was 
too  proud  to  demand  one.  The  young  man  might 
have  made  out  to  procure  a  passage  from  Cadiz 
for  Buenos  Ayres  or  Panama,  whence  he  would  be 
able  to  reach  Lima,  but  the  English  fleet  main- 


104     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

tained  a  strict  blockade  and  there  was  no  hope  of 
evading  it.  Then  the  yellow  fever  attacked  Cadiz 
and  Bernardo  fell  seriously  ill. 

After  some  months,  when  his  health  had  re- 
turned from  the  yellow  fever,  he  did  secure  a  pass- 
age in  a  vessel  of  the  fleet  bound  for  Buenos  Ayres, 
but  within  four  days  of  their  departure  from 
Cadiz,  a  squadron  of  four  or  five  English  vessels 
of  war  appeared  and  captured  the  whole  fleet 
almost  without  resistance.  Bernardo  told  the  story 
in  a  letter  to  his  father  after  he  had  reached  Cadiz 
from  Gibraltar,  where,  for  some  reason  that  he 
does  not  disclose,  the  English  ships  put  him 
ashore. 

In  these  circumstances  of  disappointment  and 
humiliation,  a  year  and  a  half  had  elapsed  since 
Bernardo  had  reached  Cadiz  from  London  in  the 
expectation  of  an  immediate  departure  for  Chile, 
but  the  worst  was  not  yet  reached.  Not  yet  had 
the  ardent  soul  of  the  young  enthusiast  been  suf- 
ficiently tried.  One  day  Don  Nicolas  called  him 
into  his  private  office  and  coldly  informed  him 
that  he  had  received  a  letter  from  Don  Ambrosio 
wherein  the  Viceroy  announced  that  he  would  no 

___ — J . . --L_______ 

longer  recognize  him  as  his  son,  that  he  expelled 
him  from  his  house,  and  required  Don  Nicolas  to 
drive  him  forthwith  from  his  household. 

Bernardo  was  proud,  but  his  pride  was  no  sup- 
port under  this  crushing  blow ;  and  for  a  time  the 
keenly  sensitive  Irish  heart  of  the  young  man  suf- 
fered agonies  worse  than  death.  Perhaps  the  blow 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     105 

to  his  pride  was  not  much  less  painful  than  that 
to  his  affections  for,  warm  and  generous  as  was 
his  heart,  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  he  had  ever  seen  his  father 
and  there  seems  to  be  no  evidence  that  his  father 
had  ever  written  him  a  letter  in  his  life.  Still, 
if  a  shattered  world  had  fallen  in  on  him,  it  could 
not  more  surely  have  deprived  him  of  home,  hope 
and  career.  Moreover,  his  ignorance  of  anything 
that  could  have  caused  such  a  revulsion  in  a  parent 
whom  he  knew  to  be  the  type  of  justice  and  honor, 
and  in  whom  he  had  felt  that  there  existed  the 
deep  and  tender  love  of  a  father  for  his  only  son, 
caused  in  him  a  bewilderment  that  was  not  far 
from  insanity.  Not  for  a  moment,  among  the 
conjectures  that  flooded  his  mind,  did  any  sus- 
picion of  the  real  cause  occur  to  him,  nor  for  ten 
years  after  his  father's  death  did  a  ray  of  light 
illumine  the  bewildering  mystery  of  his  father's 
anger.  In  1811,  Colonel  Mackenna  wrote  him  in 
a  few  words  the  whole  truth.  "Vuestras  relaciones 
con  Miranda  fueron  denunciadas  al  gobierno  Es- 
panol,  i  no  ignorais  las  atroces  medidas  tomadas 
en  consequencia  contra  vuestro  venerable  padre."  1 
All  was  thus  explained.  The  sudden  hostility  of 
the  Spanish  court  toward  Don  Ambrosio,  and  the 
charges  which  he  was  ordered  to  go  at  once  to 
Spain  to  answer ;  his  sudden  death  in  Lima,  doubt- 

1  "Your  relations  with  Miranda  were  denounced  to  the 
Spanish  Government  and  you  are  well  aware  of  the  violent 
measures  that  were  taken  to  destroy  your  venerable  father." 


106     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

less  hastened  by  the  brutal  accusations  of  the 
Council  of  the  Indies;  the  -grief  and  chagrin  of 
suffering  in  his  old  age  for  the  offence  of  Ber- 
nardo, even  if  it  were  merely  the  offence  of  levity, 
(perhaps  it  would  be  more  just  to  say,  considering 
Don  Ambrosio's  character,  especially  if  it  were  the 
offence  of  levity)  ;  and  the  final  rupture  of  rela- 
tions with  his  son.  The  result  was  much  pain  and 
suffering  for  Bernardo,  but  it  was  death  for  his 
father,  who  ended  a  magnificent  career  at  the  age 
of  eighty-one,  under  the  unmerited  imputation  of 
disloyalty,  and  his  son  was  the  occasion. 

And  yet  Don  Bernardo  was  without  blame. 
The  cleavage  of  great  moral  reforms  does  not 
respect  the  lines  of  kinship  or  of  personal  interest ; 
it  runs  athwart  the  customs  of  families  and  divides 
communities  and  nations.  Not  peace  but  a  sword. 
In  the  general  disruption  of  revolution  that  soon 
tore  Spain  asunder  and  drenched  the  soil  of  South 
America  with  the  blood  of  patriots,  one  cannot  but 
admire  that  among  the  first  victims  of  the  sacred 
cause  of  liberty,  should  be  the  Viceroy  of  Peru,  the 
incarnation  of  the  pride,  power  and  honor  of 
Spain.  It  was  not  Bernardo  that  killed  the  Vice- 
roy. It  was  the  hand  of  fate  using  the  uncon- 
scious son  as  a  weapon.  Perhaps  Don  Ambrosio 
recognized  in  his  misfortune  the  hand  of  his 
ancient  enemy  and  absolved  his  son  of  intentional 
complicity  in  his  misfortune.  At  any  rate,  Don 
Bernardo  succeeded  quietly  to  his  father's  ample 
estate  and  assumed  the  name  of  O'Higgins,  to 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     107 

which  he  was  destined  to  add  a  lustre  that  out- 
shone even  the  radiance  and  prestige  of  the  great 
Viceroy,  who  had  first  ennobled  it. 

After  his  return  to  Chile  early  in  180&,  for  the 
voyage  from  Cadiz  to  Valparaiso  consumed  a 
year,  Bernardo  Riquelme,  who  was  henceforth  to 
be  known  as  Bernardo  O'Higgins,  lived  the  se- 
cluded life  of  a  country  gentleman  on  one  of  the 
estates  in  the  south  of  Chile  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  his  father.  He  seems  to  have  con- 
tented himself  with  a  mere  perfunctory  demand 
for  recognition  as  heir  to  his  father's  titles  of 
Baron  of  Vallenar  and  Marquis  of  Osorno,  and  to 
have  reconciled  himself  easily  to  their  loss.  He 
may  have  recognized  the  impossibility  of  sustain- 
ing his  claim  before  the  Court  of  Spain,  where 
his  record  was  not  one  that  would  conciliate  favor, 
but  it  is  more  probable  that  already  his  ambition 
extended  to  a  higher  and  a  nobler  title  than  was 
in  the  power  of  the  Spanish  Court  to  bestow. 

Of  his  life  for  the  next  few  years  there  is  little 
of  importance  to  narrate.  He  became  Alcalde 
of  Chilian,  he  planted  vineyards  and  attended  to 
the  details  of  the  management  of  his  estate.  So- 
bered by  his  misfortunes,  which  had  transformed 
impetuosity  into  expectation,  he  was  content  to 
watch  the  signs  of  the  times,  keeping  in  communi- 
cation with  his  associates  of  the  Reunion,  and  pre- 
paring himself  for  the  great  cause  that  lay  before 
him.  It  was  perhaps  partly  with  this  motive  that 
he  did  not  marry,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  his 


108     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

love  for  his  mother  and  sister  filled  his  heart  to  the 
exclusion  of  any  other  passion.  The  affection 
that  was  so  soon  withdrawn  from  his  mother  by 
Don  Ambrosio,  and  was  apparently  but  scantily 
shown  by  her  husband,  was  more  than  supplied  by 
the  loving  devotion  that  Bernardo  lavished  upon 
her. 

So  he  waited,  scanning  the  horizon  and  with  his 
ear  open  to  the  presaging  winds  from  the  North 
and  East.  In  1807,  whenjthe  news  of  the  English^ 
landing  in  Buenos  Ayres  came  thundering  into 
Chilian,  he. knfw  that  the  hand  of  the  "Master," 
Miranda,  had  dealt  the  blow,  and  felt  that  the  time 
was  near  when  he  too  must  throw  himself  into  the 
red  gulf  of  war,  if  perchance  he  might  assist  in 
winning  freedom  for  his  country. 

From  this  time  began  his  active  efforts  for  the 
new  cause.  With  an  instinctive  admiration  of 
military  life,  he  nevertheless  realized  that  to  re- 
cruit and  drill  mysterious  levies  in  the  face  of  the 
Spanish  garrisons  of  Chilian  and  Concepcion,  was 
not  the  way  to  advance  his  purpose.  He  had  long 
since  satisfied  himself  that  the  people  of  the  South 
of  Chile,  inured  to  almost  constant  warfare  with 
.  the  Araucans,  were  the  best  stuff  in  the  world  for 
militia,  and  under  a  worthy  leader  would  not  yield 
in  steadiness  to  veteran  soldiers.  Many  of  the  of- 
ficers too  were  Chileans,  with  whom  O'Higgins  was 
on  terms  of  friendly  intimacy,  and  to  them,  in- 
dividually and  cautiously,  he  opened  up  the  pur- 
pose that  was  so  dear  to  his  heart,  and  there 
seems  to  be  no  instance  where  his  confidence  was 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     109 

betrayed  or,  what  is  more  remarkable,  where  his 
counsels  and  arguments  did  not  succeed  in  their 
purpose.  It  seems  to  have  been  now  also  that  the 
intimacy  was  confirmed  between  Don  Juan  Mar- 
tinez de  Rozas  and  O'Higgins,  which  strengthened 
the  hands  of  both  and  proved  so  fertile  of  good  for 
Chile.  For  from  these  two,  Rozas  and  O'Higgins, 
Chile  was  destined  to  receive  the  direction  and  the 
impetus  which  have  guided  the  natural  genius  of 
the  Chilean  people  into  the  path  of  continuous 
achievement,  and  have  bestowed  upon  their  govern- 
ment that  stability  which,  almost  alone  among 
South  American  peoples,  has  characterized  their 
country  until  the  present  time. 

On  February  10th,  1808,  died  Don  Luis  Munoz 
de  Guzman,  Governor  and  Captain  General  of  Chile 
and  President  of  the  Royal  Audience,  and  the 
duty  devolved  on  the  Audience  to  name  a  succes- 
sor until  the  King  might  be  informed  of  Munoz's 
death  and;  appoint  a  new  governor.  The  selection 
did  not  seem  to  present  any  particular  difficulty. 
The  case  was  not  a  new  one — the  condition  had 
often  occurred  and  the  succession  had  been  pre- 
scribed by  a  royal  decree  published  two  years  ear- 
lier, under  which  the  senior  military  officer  in  the 
kingdom  was  designated  as  the  proper  person  to  be 
named.  In  fact,  his  election  was  a  mere  form, 
which  survived  from  earlier  custom  when  the  Audi- 
ence really  had  the  electing  power  in  commendam. 
It  happened  now,  however,  that  the  ranking  officer 
in  Chile  was  the  old  General,  Don  Pedro  Quijada, 


1  i  / 


110     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

who  was  incapacitated  by  age  and  ineligible  from 
physical  disabilities.  General  Quijada  being  thus 
disqualified,  the  course  was  again  perfectly  clear, 
*  for  the  decree  designated  the  Brigadier  General, 
Don  Francisco  Antonio  Garcia  Carrasco  as  the 
Provisional  Governor.  But  the  Audience  delayed 
to  act,  being  divided  between  General  Carrasco  and 
the  Regent  of  the  Royal  Audience,  Don  Jose 
Rodriguez  Ballesteros.  It  doubtless  seemed  to 
them  that  if  they  could  pass  over  General  Quijada, 
they  might  go  a  step  farther  and  suppress  the 
claim  of  General  Carrasco.  Perhaps  if  they  had 
acted  at  once  and  firmly,  they  might  have  suc- 
ceeded in  excluding  Carrasco,  but  they  hesitated 
to  take  the  important  step  and  let  "I  dare  not" 
wait  upon  "I  would."  While  they  delayed,  the 
preference  of  the  people  for  Ballesteros  became  so 
outspoken  that  the  Royal  Audience  was  on  the 
point  of  disregarding  the  order  of  succession  in 
favor  of  the  Regent,  who  indeed  issued  some  un- 
important decrees,  when  General  Carrasco  sud- 
denly appeared  in  the  Capital.  Under  advice  from 
Don  Juan  Martinez  de  Rozas,  he  came  up  hastily 
from  Concepcion  to  secure  his  rights,  and  con- 
strained the  Royal  Audience  to  fulfill  the  provision 
of  the  royal  decree.  General  Carrasco  thus  became 
the  Governor  of  Chile  and  kept  Rozas  at  his  side, 
giving  him  the  position  of  Asesor. 

Don  Juan  Martinez   de  Rozas,   although  thus 

"•f0f~the  time  serving  as  an  official  of  the  Spanish 

government  in  Chile,  was  destined  to  take  the  fore- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     111, 

most  part  in  the  movement  that  resulted  in  the' 
subversion  of  royal  authority  in  Chile.  He  was 
born  in  Mendoza,  then  a  part  of  Chile,  in  1759. 
His  father  was  a  Spaniard  who  had  attained  a 
position  of  some  importance  in  Mendoza,  and  his 
mother  could  count  among  her  ancestors  Jeronimo 
de  Alderete  (the  first  Governor  of  Chile  who  was 
named  directly  by  the  King  Philip  II.),  and  that 
Alonzo  de  Reinoso  who  put  Caupolican  to  death  in 
the  Plaza  of  Canete. 

He  was  sent  as  a  lad  to  the  University  of 
Cordoba,  in  what  is  now  the  Argentine,  and  for 
several  years  pursued  the  usual  university  course 
of  study,  which  consisted  of  Scholastic  Philosophy, 
Theology,  Canon  Law,  and  the  Patristic  writings, 
— all  of  which  required  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
Latin, — besides  the  Siete  Partidas  and  the  Reco- 
pilacion.  In  1780  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  he 
came  to  Chile,  where  he  soon  won  the  respect  of  the 
more  learned  class  in  the  city  by  his  attainments, 
the  esteem  of  society  by  his  modest  kindliness,  and 
the  goodwill  of  the  Governor,  Don  Ambrosio  de 
Benavides,  by  his  good  judgment  and  his  aptitude 
for  affairs.  In  1781,  the  Governor  appointed  him 
to  teach  philosophy  in  the  College  in  Santiago,  and 
he  added  of  his  own  accord  the  innovation  of  a 
course  in  experimental  physics. 

Meanwhile,  he  continued  the  study  of  the  law, 
and  in  1784  was  admitted  as  a  lawyer,  while  two 
years  later  his  proficiency  in  both  laws  was  recog- 
nized by  his  receiving  the  highest  scholastic  and 


112     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

literary  distinction  that  the  Colony  could  bestow, 
— the  degree  of  LL.D.  He  was  appointed  by  the 
Audience,  "Defensor  de  Pobres,"  and  by  the  Gov- 
ernor, Professor  of  Law  in  the  College  in  Santiago. 
He  was  then  twenty-seven  years  of  age. 

It  must  have  been  about  this  time  that  his 
friendship  began  with  Don  Ambrosio  O'Higgins, 
which  remained  unbroken  until  O'Higgins'  death 
in  1801,  as  Viceroy  of  Peru.  There  could  scarcely 
be  a  higher  test  of  honesty  and  extraordinary 
ability  than  the  esteem  of  Don  Ambrosio  O'Hig- 
gins. In  what  manner  these  two  eminent  men  be- 
came acquainted  we  do  not  know,  but  Don  Ambro- 
sio was  so  much  impressed  with  the  young  lawyer's 
character  and  ability,  that  he  requested  leave  of 
Governor  Benavides  to  take  Rozas  with  him  to  Con- 
cepcion  as  Asesor.  Benavides  consented,  and  thus 
Rozas'  life  became  for  several  years  closely  con- 
nected with  the  conduct  of  affairs  in  the  South  of 
Chile.  To  him  O'Higgins  committed  the  execu- 
tion of  important  reforms,  and  seems  to  have  con- 
fidently relied  upon  Rozas'  energy  and;  fidelity. 

And  yet  O'Higgins,  when  in  1788  he  became 
Governor  of  Chile,  and  when  eight  years  later 
he  was  advanced  to  the  Viceroyalty  of  Peru,  left 
Rozas  in  Concepcion  as  Asesor.  He  wrote  in  the 
highest  terms  of  eulogy  to  the  Council  of  the 
Indies,  concerning  his  young  protege, — he 
seemed  as  fond  of  him  and  as  sure  of  him  as  ever, 
but  he  left  him  in  the  comparative  obscurity  of  Con- 
cepcion. The  Council  of  the  Indies  never,  as  far 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     113 

as  is  now  known,  paid  the  slightest  attention  to 
the  welfare  of  the  young  lawyer,  except  to  take 
advantage  of  a  technical  absence  from  the  city 
and  supersede  him  as  quickly  as  possible.  To 
Rozas  himself,  conscious  as  he  was  of  his  own 
energy,  integrity  and  enthusiasm,  and  especially 
with  the  encomiums  of  the  Viceroy  still  ringing 
in  his  ears,  this  neglect  and  studied  abandonment 
may  have  seemed  unaccountable  and  captious,  but 
it  was  in  direct  keeping  with  the  consistent  policy 
of  Spain  toward  her  servants  in  the  Colonies. 
It  was  in  obedience  to  this  policy  that  Ambrosio 
O'Higgins  preferred  his  ambition  of  power  to  his 
love  for  the  girl  who  had  borne  him  a  son,  and 
refused  to  destroy  his  future  by  a  marriage  with 
a  Chilean.  I  have  spoken  already  of  this  feature 
of  the  colonial  policy  of  Spain.  Rozas  was  a 
victim  of  it,  and  he  must  have  known  what  would 
be  the  direct  result  on  his  own  political  prospects 
of  his  marriage  in  Concepcion  with  Dona  Maria  de 
las  Nieves  Urrutia  Mendiburu  i  Manzanos,  the 
daughter  of  one  of  the  richest  and  most  illus- 
trious families  of  the  South  of  Chile.  So  for  the 
next  thirteen  years,  Rozas  lived  the  life  of  a  private 
gentleman  in  the  studious  retirement  of  an  estate 
which  his  wife  brought  him  at  their  marriage. 

Here  he  studied  political  economy  and  history, 
as  well  as  general  literature.  He  composed  a 
treatise  "De  arte  poetica."  He  corresponded  with 
Miranda  and  became  enthusiastic  for  freedom  and 
independence.  He  was  Master  of  Lautaro 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Lodge  in  Concepcion,  where  academic  arguments 
on  the  abstract  principles  of  government  prepared 
the  way  for  the  great  changes  that  were  to  take 
place  in  Chile.  He  continued  to  reside  in  Concep- 
cion, where  his  wide  range  of  general  knowledge 
and  his  skill  in  the  law  were  the  admiration  of 
all  who  knew  him.  It  was  Rozas  whom  Carrasco 
consulted  in  his  uncertainty  as  to  assuming  unin- 
vited the  office  of  Governor,  and  it  was  at  Rozas' 
suggestion  that  Carrasco  claimed  the  fulfillment 
of  the  royal  provision. 

The  population  of  Chile  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  was  computed  at  four  hundred 
thousand  persons,  of  whom  perhaps 'three  hundred 
and  ninety  thousand  lived  in  political  and  social 
dependence  on  the  resfy  Outside  of  the  Capital, 
which  Tocornal  estimates  at  fifty  thousand  inhabi- 
tants, the  only  other  considerable  cities  were 
Concepcion  in  the  south,  and  Coquimbo  in  the 
north.  Valparaiso  contained  about  two  thousand 
souls  and  was  little  more  than  a  fishing  hamlet. 
Vicuna-Mackenna  calls  Valparaiso  very  prettily 
the  "Child  of  the  Revolution."  The  rest  of  the 
inhabitants  were  scattered  in  the  villages  that 
clung  to  the  Cordillera  or  that  nestled  in  the  bays 
along  the  coast,  and  in  the  estancias  or  country 
estates  of  the  great  proprietors,  among  whom 
there  were  some  individuals  who  could  recruit  and 
equip  a  regiment  on  their  respective  estates. 
These  proprietors,  haciendados,  had  their  resi- 
dences in  the  Capital,  where  they  spent  the  winter 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     115 

months,  and  were  all  related,  by  ties  of  blood  or  of 
marriage  as  well  to  each  other  as  to  the  aristo- 
cratic families  permanently  resident  in  Santiago. 
Don  Jose  Manuel  de  Astorga,  who  has  been  called 
the  most  famous  of  Chilean  genealogists,  in 
speaking  of  Chileans  during  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, said  that  "En  Santiago,  el  que  no  es  Lisper- 
guer,  es  mulato,"  1  so  extensively  had  the  blood 
of  that  famous  family  permeated  the  higher  class 
of  Chilean  society.  This  remark  continued  to  be 
true  in  a  broader  sense  during  the  whole  subse- 
quent history  of  the  colonists,  whose  isolation  ne- 
cessitated intermarriage  and  whose  simple  and 
pure  domestic  life  was  blessed  with  a  numerous 
progeny.  From  Sa.ntTR£rnJj^<{KiTigf|9m>?  nf  TVnlp  / 
was  ruled,  i^r^h^r¥Tivedthe  Governor,  the  Judgesx^ 
of  the  Royal  Audience,  the  Bishop  and  all  the  im-  / 
portant  Colonial  officers ;  but  the  leading  part  that 
Santiago  played  in  the  drama  of  independence  was 
rather  due  to  the  residence  in  that  city  of  the  aris- 
tocratic authority  and  prestige  of  the  Colony,  for 
the  whole  country  relied  confidently  on  the  initiative 
of  the  representatives  of  the  great  families  in  the 
Capital.  The  character  of  the  Chilean  aristoc- 
racy was  not  at  that  time  very  different  from 
what  it  is  now.  The  same  serious  dignity,  theV 
same  courtesy,  the  same  absence  of  ostentation, 
the  same  exclusiveness,  the  same  lack  of  humor. 
Gentle  in  judging  others  and  lenient  toward  their 
mistakes,  they  could  dissemble,  but  never  forgive, 
i  "In  Chile,  he  who  is  not  a  Lisperguer  is  a  half  breed." 


116     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

an  intended  affront,  and  looked  upon  the  neglect 
of  social  courtesies  as  a  serious  offense  to  them- 
selves. Never  petulant,  never  resentful  but  with 
due  cause,  their  enmity,  once  aroused,  was  not 
easily  appeased,  and  there  has  perhaps  never  ex- 
isted a  people  with  greater  inflexible  pertinacity 
of  purpose,  with  more  unalterable  loyalty  of  re- 
sentment, than  the  Chileans. 

Then,  even  more  than  now,  the  jreal  power  of 
the  kingdom,  outside  of  the  royal  representatives, 
lay  wholly  in  the  hands  of  these  few  families,  whose 
pride,  wealth,~ahd  birth  brought  to  their  doors, 
like  the  clients  of  the  old  Roman  houses,  a  multi- 
tude of  retainers,  tenants,  and  dependents,  whose 
only  purpose  in  life  was  to  fulfill  faithfully  the 
commands  of  their  masters.  Among  such  families 
were  the  Larrain,  Eyzaguirre,  Infante,  Aguirre 
Carrera,  Vicuna  and  Aldunate.  Intermarriage  be- 
tween the  children  of  these  houses  was  an  almost 
unbroken  rule  and  their  families  were  very  large. 
Don  Martin  Larrain  i  Salas  had  twenty-four  chil- 
dren, whose  marriage  confirmed  the  family  ties 
that  bound  the  Chilean  aristocracy  in  a  close  band 
of  sympathy,  relation  and  fellowship.  They  were 
the  large  landowners,  the  wealthy  merchants,  the 
social  leaders,  and  their  influence  was  irresistible. 
On  them  depended  the  whole  social,  commercial  and 
political  fabric  of  Chile,  and  this  united,  patri- 
archal, power  was  openly  hostile  to  Carrasco. 

Displeased  with  the  arbitrary  manner  in  which 
Carrasco  vindicated  his  right  to  the  supreme  power 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     117 

in  the  Colony,  they  became  progressively  more  hos- 
tile to Thim  as  each  new  measure  offended  them 
more  seriously.  It  seemed  that,  if  there  were  two 
paths  before  him,  Carrasco  always  took  the  wrong 
one.  He  meddled  arbitrarily  in  the  election  of  a 
rector  to  the  university  and  put  himself  in  the 
wrong  so  violently  and  with  such  an  obstinate  lack 
of  tact ;  he  sneered  so  openly  at  the  modest  little 
social  functions  of  the  Capital ;  he  preferred  so 
shamelessly  the  excitement  of  his  cock-fights  to 
the  more  serious  gatherings  of  the  Chilean  men  of 
affairs,  and  disdained  so  pointedly  to  hold  any 
personal  intercourse  with  the  very  aristocracy  of 
the  country ;  that  the  Chileans  came  to  think  it  un- 
necessary to  show  him  the  consideration  that  his 
position  demanded,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  evince 
their  resentment  and  contempt  of  him  both  person- 
ally and  officially. 

This  in  turn  increased  his  violence.  He  inter- 
fered  arbitrarily  in  the  affairs  of  the  mimipp^h'ty 
(Cabildb),  which  was  the  stronghold  politically  of 
the  Chilean  aristocracy,  and  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Audience,  which  was  the  centre  of  loyalty  to  the 
Spanish  Court.  He  dictated  the  names  of  those 
who  should  be  elected  to  the  Cabildo  and,  then, 
by  every  means  at  his  command,  sought  to  exas- 
perate that  body  into  open  revolt  in  order  that  he 
might  disband  them  in  disgrace.  In  the  Royal 
Audience,  Juan  Martinez  de  Rozas  had  soon  per- 
ceived the  difficulty  of  his  position  as  Asesor,  and 
had  resigned  the  office  to  resume  his  former  life  in 


118     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Concepcion.  Don  Pedro  Diaz  de  Valdez,  a  lawyer 
who  had  come  from  Spain  to  practise  his  pro- 
fession, was  elected  Asesor  in  Rozas'  place.  The 
new  Asesor  was  married  to  Dona  Javiera  Carrera, 
a  member  of  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  influ- 
ential of  the  Chilean  families,  and,  when  the  open 
rupture  came  between  Carrasco  and  the  aristoc- 
racy, the  Governor,  taking  advantage  of  a  sick- 
ness which,  for  the  time,  prevented  Diaz  de  Valdez 
from  performing  his  duties  in  the  Audience,  ex- 
pelled him  from  that  body  and  brusquely  refused 
to  permit  him,  after  his  recovery,  to  resume  his 
office.  The  Audience  resented  this  interdiction  of 
a  member  of  their  body,  and  formulated  a  protest 
to  which  the  Governor  paid  no  attention.  The 
Governor  was  not  long  in  antagonizing  the  Ec- 
clesiastical body,  already  embittered  by  his  inter- 
ference in  the  election  of  the  rector  of  the  Uni- 
versity, and  found  the  Cabildo,  the  Audience,  the 
Church  and  the  aristocracy  arrayed  as  one  body 
against  him. 

Still  he  was  not  warned.  IIe_JEas_determined  to 
overawe  the  people  of  Chile  and  establish  Tils  au- 
thority  by  intimidation  if  possible,  by  force  if  nec- 
essary. He  knew  well  that  the  time  for  concilia- 
tion was  gone  by,  if  indeed  he  had  ever  con- 
templated resorting  to  it. 

To  appreciate  at  its  apparent  value  from  the 
Chilean  standpoint  the  effect  upon  their  minds  of 
Carrasco's  next  move,  it  is  necessary  to  consider 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     119 

an  incident  of  prior  occurrence,  which  increased  to 
a  remarkable  degree  the  distrust  entertained  by 
the  Chileans  in  respect  of  the  intentions  of  their 
Governor.  A  new  embarrassment  had  suddenly 
arisen  to  complicate  the  already  bewildering  situ- 
ation of  Chilean  politics.  The  royal  family  of 
Portugal  had  long  since  sought  refuge  in  Rio 
Janeiro.  Looking  upon  the  cause  of  Spain  as  ir- 
retrievably lost,  the  Regent,  Don  Juan, — after- 
wards himself  the  King  of  Portugal, — regarded 
with  longing  eyes  the  fertile  Viceroyalty  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  and  his  wife,  the  Princess  Carlota,  who 
was  the  sister  of  Ferdinand,  sought  to  influence 
the  Colonists  of  the  Plata  to  permit  her  to  assume 
certain  protectoral  rights  over  that  country. 
The  issue  of  the  intrigue  was  by  no  means  clear, 
but  the  loyal  Chileans  took  instant  fright  at  what 
they  regarded  as  a  supersession  of  the  rights  of 
Ferdinand,  to  whose  cause  they  clung  passion- 
ately. Soon  after  this  attempt  was  publicly 
known  to  be  in  process  of  adjustment,  a  courier 
arrived  from  the  Princess  Carlota  with  despatches 
for  Carrasco.  At  once  the  Chileans  became  ex- 
cited and,  being  repulsed  when  they  sought  infor- 
mation, their  curiosity  reveled  in  the  wildest  con- 
jectures, and  their  imagination  presented  to  their 
disturbed  apprehension  a  whole  world  of  calami- 
ties. As  a  matter  of  fact  Carrasco  might  have  pub- 
lished the  Princess'  letters  in  full  without  harm; 
indeed,  if  he  had  candidly  disclosed  their  contents, 
he  would  have  relieved  the  Chileans  from  much 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

anxiety  and  himself  from  much  suspicion,  but  he 
was  not  inclined  to  take  the  people  into  his  con- 
fidence and  fatuously  made  a  mystery  of  the 
matter. 

The  universal  belief  among  them  came  to  be 
that  the  Governor,  being  in  secret  correspondence 
with  the  Princess  of  Portugal,  would  use  his  power, 
in  a  favorable  conjuncture  of  events,  to  overthrow 
the  Spanish  authority  in  Chile,  in  favor  of  the 
Portuguese  Princess. 

The  despatch  of  Dona  Carlota  to  Governor  Car- 
rasco  was  as  follows : — 

"I  am  informed  by  my  cabinet  courier,  Don  Fed- 
erico  Dowling,  of  the  loyalty  and  love  that  all  my 
countrymen  profess  for  my  beloved  brother,  Ferdi- 
nand VII.  I  am  likewise  certified  by  the  same  Dowl- 
ing  of  the  singular  zeal  and  energy  with  which  you 
support  the  rights  of  your  Sovereign.  As  well  in  his 
name  as  for  myself,  I  thank  you  sincerely  and  I  am 
convinced  that  you  will  give  me  the  assurance  that 
you  will  persist  in  so  laudable  a  course  of  conduct, 
whose  merit  Ferdinand  VII.,  the  most  grateful  and 
equitable  of  Sovereigns,  will  know  how  to  appreciate 
and  reward. 

"Given  in  the  Grand  Palace  of  my  dwelling  of  Rio 
Janeiro  the  6th  of  May,  180Q. 

"CARLOTA  JOAQUINA  DE  BORBON." 

This  was  manifestly  an  attempt  to  identify 
herself  with  Ferdinand's  interests  and  perhaps  ob- 
tain a  reversionary  claim  to  his  possessions,  but 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

no  harm  would  have  come  from  the  publication  of 
the  despatch,  while  the  injurious  conjectures  that 
its  suppression  caused  was  one  of  the  first  incen- 
tives to  the  formation  in  Chile  of  a  power  inde- 
pendent of  Carrasco,  which  would  insure  the  con- 
tinued loyalty  of  Chile  to  Ferdinand  VII.  in  the 
event  of  Carrasco's  defection. 

The  Governor  knew  the  people  to  be  alarmed 
and  confused,  and  now  prepared  a  blow  that  he 
was  confident  would  establish  his  authority  on  the 
basis  of  fear.  He  would  intimidate  them. 

Meanwhile,  from  month  to  month,  the  news  from 
Spain  became  more  disquieting1.  Ferdinand,  the 
"Desired  one,"  (El  deseado),  who  was  endeared  to 
his  people  by  his  misfortunes,  was  still  "interned" 
at  Valen£ai;  the  Junta  Central,  flying  precipi- 
tately before  the  French  armies,  and  shrieking 
aloud  the  story  of  its  own  incompetence  in  the  ears 
of  the  startled  and  bewildered  Colonies,  had  be- 
come simply  tiresome  and  ridiculous.  At  this 
time  Carrasco  determined  to  disarm  the  Chileans 
and  under  pretence  of  devotion  to  the  Peninsular 
cause,  ordered  all  the  weapons  that  could  be  col- 
lected to  be  sent  to  Valparaiso  and  shipped  to 
Spain.  Among  these  weapons,  family  relics  of  the 
Araucan  wars  and  trophies  of  the  early  conquer- 
ors, were  four  thousand  lances  which  had  been 
long  since  hung  up  to  adorn  the  walls  of  Chilean 
homes  and  having  ceased  to  be  weapons  had  become 
ornaments.  These  obsolete,  these  archaic,  arms 
were,  in  spite  of  the  official  protests  of  the  Cabildo, 


128     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

actually  sent  out  of  the  country,  but  the  Chileans 
rightly  regarded  it  as  not  so  much  a  reinforce- 
ment of  Spanish  antagonism  to  Napoleon  as  an 
injury  to  themselves. 

The  Cabildo  of  Santiago  was  composed  of  two 
Alcaldes,  ten  Rejidores,  a  Procurator  and  an 
Asesor;  of  these  the  Rejidores  were  appointed  by 
the  King,  the  office  (vara)  being  sold  to  the  high- 
est bidder,  but  the  other  officers  were  elected  by  the 
Rejidores  for  the  term  of  two  years.  The  Cabildo 
was  the  only  corporation  that  was  composed  of 
Chileans,  and  represented  therefore  more  nearly 
than  any  other  body  the  sentiments  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  Colony.  The  Cabildo  had  never  been 
considered  a  body  of  any  prominence;  its  offices 
made  honorable  positions  for  those  of  the  city  who 
were  ambitious  of  social  distinction,  but  its  prin- 
cipal functions  were  to  see  that  the  city  was  ade- 
quately policed,  to  adorn  the  religious  processions, 
and  to  exchange  among  themselves  at  their  meet- 
ings the  daily  news  that  was  scantily  furnished  by 
a  sleepy  town.  Their  meetings  were  usually  so 
ill-attended  that  scarcely  once  or  twice  a  year 
could  a  quorum  be  found  to  transact  the  necessary 
business. 

In  December,  1809,  there  was  an  election  of  of- 
ficers, and  Don  Agustin  Eyzaguirre  and  Don 
Jose  Nicholas  de  la  Cerda  were  chosen  Alcaldes, 
Don  Juan  Antonio  Ovalle,  Procurator,  and  Don 
Jose  Gregorio  Argomedo,  Asesor.  In  this  elec- 
tion the  hand  of  Juan  Martinez  de  Rozas  was 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     123 

plainly  visible.  The  new  Procurator,  Ovalle,  was 
a  disciple  of  Rozas,  and  the  others  were  Rozas'  in- 
timate friends,  over  whom  he  had  much  influence. 
Suddenly  the  Cabildo  awoke  to  unaccustomed  ac- 
tivity. Daily  meetings  were  held  at  which  all  the 
members  were  present.  Soon  these  meetings  were 
found  to  be  too  short,  and  were  supplemented  by 
nightly  sessions,  wherein  the  news  from  Spain  was 
warmly  discussed  and  the  affairs  of  the  Colony  ar- 
dently debated.  Such  activity  had  never  before 
been  known,  and  the  Governor  was  enraged  to  dis- 
cover that  among  other  topics  of  discussion,  he 
and  his  office  and  his  acts  were  made  the  subject 
of  hearty  condemnation.  Soon,  instead  of  the 
Cabildo  occupying  their  time  in  the  exchange  of 
news  and  anecdotes,  Santiago  began  to  take  a  con- 
suming interest  in  the  meetings  of  the  Cabildo,  and 
in  some  way  a  good  deal  became  public  which  had 
been  uttered  in  the  secrecy  of  the  town  hall.  The 
Royal  Audience  went  to  Carrasco  with  .the  rumored 
speeches  of  the  officers  of  the  Cabildo  and  required 
him  to  denounce  their  inflammatory  proceedings 
to  the  Junta  Central,  which  he  did,  and  to  order 
the  Cabildo  to  keep  their  hours  and  to  hold  no  ad- 
journed sessions,  which  he  also  did;  but  this  tyr- 
anny, as  the  Alcaldes  called  it,  only  gave  them  oc- 
casion for  renewed  criticism  of  the  Governor,  and 
in  no  way  abated  its  virulence.  Matters  wrere  in 
this  rather  unpleasant  state  between  them  when 
the  Cabildo  took  up  for  discussion  the  matter  of 
the  shipment  of  the  lances  and  voted  to  request 


124     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

the  Governor  to  rescind  his  decree,  promising  him 
to  redeem  the  lances  in  the  sum  of  four  thousand 
dollars,  which  could  be  more  conveniently  remitted 
to  Spain,  and  would  perhaps  be  more  serviceable 
to  the  Junta  Central  in  the  form  of  money  than  in 
that  of  a  large  consignment  of  useless  arms. 

Ovalle,  the  Procurator,  was  the  member  whose 
duty  it  became  to  take  up  the  matter  with  the 
Governor  on  the  part  of  the  Cabildo,  and  he  urged 
it  with  a  pertinacity  that  strengthened  the  Gover- 
nor's suspicions  of  their  designs  and  quickened  his 
resolve  to  get  the  arms  out  of  the  country.  The 
only  result  of  the  act  of  the  Cabildo  was  to  in- 
crease the  resentment  of  Carrasco  and  also  to 
single  out  Ovalle  as  one  of  the  dangerous  men 
whom  it  would  be  expedient  to  remove. 

It  was  only  a  very  few  days  later  that  the  op- 
portunity came.  On  April  16th  the  Viceroy  of 
Buenos  Ayres,  Don  Baltasar  Hidalgo  de  Cisneros, 
having  discovered  the  trail  of  the  Gran  Reunion 
Americana  leading  from  Buenos  Ayres  to  Chile, 
wrote  to  Carrasco  that  there  existed  in  Chile  a 
band  of  traitors  to  Spain  who  were  carrying  on  a 
propaganda  for  emancipation  and  independence, 
and  advising  him  to  attack  them  at  once.  Cis- 
neros named  no  one  and  Carrasco  had  no  better 
information  apparently  to  guide  him  than  the 
vague  caution  from  the  Viceroy  of  Buenos  Ayres, 
but  he  was  anxious  that  his  loyalty  be  not  im- 
peached nor  his  vigilance  disparaged,  and  he  was 
by  no  means  destitute  of  a  certain  shrewdness  of 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     125 

conjecture,  which,  with  the  recollection  of  the  Pro- 
curator's insistence  on  the  retention  of  the  lances 
in  Chile,  indicated  Ovalle  to  be  one  of  the  con- 
spirators. 

Ovalle  was  one  of  the  most  excellent  men  in 
Santiago.  He  traced  his  ancestry  back  to  Don 
Juan  Pastene,  one  of  the  companions  of  Valdivia 
in  the  conquest  of  Chile.  Pastene  was  himself  of 
a  famous  Genoa  family,  whose  history  may  yet  be 
read  in  the  archives  of  that  ancient  city.  Ovalle 
had  spent  a  long  and  blameless  life  in  public  serv- 
ice. Inheriting  wealth,  he  had  captivated  the 
esteem  and  admiration  of  his  townsmen.  He  was 
now  over  sixty  years  of  age,  and,  being  in  infirm 
health,  had  gone  to  take  the  waters  at  the  baths 
of  Cauquenes,  when  the  Governor  ordered  him  to 
be  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  Santiago. 

Among  the  other  aristocrats  who  had  been  fore- 
most ini  opposing  the  Governor,  those  whom  he  se- 
lected to  be  Ovalle's  companions,  were  Don  Jose 
Antonio  Rojas  and  Don  Bernardo  Vera  y  Pintado. 
Rojas  was  still  older  than  Ovalle,  having  passed 
his  sixty-eighth  year.  As  a  young  man  he  fell 
into  favor  with  the  Governor,  Amat  i  Junient,  and 
followed  him  when,  in  1761,  Amat  became  Viceroy 
of  Peru,  and  filled  various  offices  under  the  Viceroy 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  win  the  confidence  and  es- 
teem of  his  superior.  He  then  passed  some  years 
in  Spain,  and  collected  a  little  library  of  books 
among  which  were  Robertson's  Histories  and  the 
"Encyclopedic."  He  remained  in  Spain  until 


126     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

1777,  when  he  returned  to  Chile  and  married  the 
daughter  of  Don  Jose  Perfecto  Salas,  who  had 
served  as  Judge  in  Chile  and  Asesor  in  Lima,  and 
who  was  reported  to  have  hoarded  some  fabulous 
sum  amounting  to  many  millions  of  dollars  during 
his  service  in  America.  R6j  as  had  held  many  sub- 
ordinate but  honorable  offices  in  Chile,  and  was  in 
his  old  age  respected  as  one  of  the  most  generous 
and  honorable  of  men.  I  have  already  in  an  earlier 
part  given  an  account  of  his  residence  in  Spain. 
Vera  was  a  popular  young  man,  a  lawyer,  a  poet, 
an  eloquent  orator, — the  most  genial  and  best 
loved  man  in  Chilean  society.  He  was  at  this  time 
about  thirty  years  of  age.  He  it  was  who  wrote 
the  Chilean  National  Hymn,  the  singing  of  which 
is  still  one  of  the  inspiring  features  of  the  day  of 
Chilean  Independence.  Vera's  prominence  was 
due  to  his  own  character  and  attainments,  though 
he  did  not  lack  for  social  qualifications  of  a  deriva- 
tive kind,  for  his  uncle  had  been  Viceroy  of  Buenos 
Ayres  during  the  early  years  of  the  century,  and 
an  ancestor  of  his  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
first  Royal  Audience  in  Chile  in  1566. 

These  three  men  were  the  ones  chosen  for  Car- 
rasco's  purpose,  and  their  selection  proved  the 
confidence  of  the  Governor  in  the  success  of  his 
scheme.  But  intimidation  is  an  uncertain  weapon, 
and  may  prove  a  dangerous  one  for  him  who 
rashly  ventures  to  use  it. 

On  May  25,  1810,  Ovalle,  Rojas  and  Vera,  then, 
were  arrested  and  confined  in  the  prison  of  Santi- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

ago  and  the  excitement  of  the  people  of  the  Cap- 
ital was  without  bounds.  They  clamored  tumul- 
tuously  to  know  the  offenses  that  the  Governor 
laid  to  the  charge  of  their  favorites  and  leaders. 
In  the  intimate  friendship  that  existed  among  the 
members  of  the  Santiago  aristocracy,  every  man's 
life  was  an  open  book  to  his  neighbors  and  friends. 
They  formed  rather  a  large  family  than  a  society, 
and  they  resented  as  something  close  and  personal 
to  themselves  the  impujtatipn  of  crime  which  they 
well  knew  their  friends  incapable  ^bf  committing. 
Carrasco  was  compelled  to  formulate  his  accusa- 
tion. He  charged  them,  first,  with  rejoicing  at 
the  misfortunes  of  Spain  under  the  heel  of  Na-- 
poleon;  second,  with  criticizing  the  course  of  the 
Junta  Central  in  conducting  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment ;  and  third,  with  aspiring  to  independence  o£ 
Spanish  control. 

Not  one  of  these  charges  could  endure  a  mo- 
ment's scrutiny  with  any  other  result  than  ridicule. 
Perhaps  Carrasco  thought  that  the  less  valid  his 
accusations  were,  the  more  would  the  Chileans  be 
impressed  with  the  power  that  could  dispense  with 
the  assistance  of  justice,  and  enforce  unaided  its 
austere  purpose  upon  the  most  eminent  of  its  foes. 

On  the  announcement  of  Carrasco's  charges, 
there  fell  for  a  moment,  as  he  had  expected,  a  vast 
dismay  on  Chile.  Who  indeed  could  be  safe  if  such 
offenses  were  to  be  punished,  if  a  mere  state  of 
mind,  like  joy  or  despondency,  were  to  be  consid- 
ered criminal  ?  Moreover,  if  criticism  of  the  Junta 


128     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Central  were  treason,  then  treason  was  become 
wellnigh  universal,  for  the  whole  Spanish  world 
was  disgusted  with  the  shameless  incompetence  of 
the  Junta  and  no  one  hesitated  to  condemn  it 
roundly  and  openly  as  disgraceful  and  futile. 
And  when  did  aspiration  become  a  crime,  or  hope 
receive  any  punishment  except  disappointment? 
Quickly,  dismay  was  followed  by  resentment  and 
anger  that  demanded  action,  the  Cabildo  remon- 
strated, and  the  tumultuous  populace  besieged  the 
Governor's  palace,  crying  aloud,  with  threats  and 
curses,  for  the  liberation  of  the  prisoners.  In  re- 
ply they  were  told  that  the  Governor  had  sent  the 
accused  under  the  guard  of  a  detachment  of  sol- 
diers to  Valparaiso. 

The  issue  was  now  squarely  joined;  the  Gov- 
ernor felt  confident  of  winning  and  the  citzens  were 
determined  not  to  lose.  For  the  time  being,  the 
contest  centered  about  Rojas,  Ovalle  and  Vera. 
The  citizens  contrived  to  send  a  Judge  of  the 
Royal  Audience  to  Valparaiso  to  examine  the  ac- 
cused men.  Senor  Bazo  i  Berri,  the  youngest 
Judge,  was  with  difficulty  persuaded  to  undertake 
this  mission.  From  Santiago  to  Valparaiso  was 
about  ninety  miles — a  good  day's  journey.  Bazo 
i  Berri  came  back  from  Valparaiso  and  reported  to 
the  Royal  Audience  that  there  was  no  case  against 
the  prisoners.  His  report  is  extant  in  the  judicial 
archives  in  Santiago.  Armed  with  this  report 
from  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  people 
demanded  the  return  of  the  prisoners.  Up  to  this 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

time  the  mutual  positions  of  the  Governor  and  the 
people  had  been  curiously  transposed.  It  was  the 
populace  that  proceeded  in  accordance  with  the 
law,  and  it  was  the  Governor  who  resorted  to  vio- 
lence and  injustice.  The  strength  of  the  people 
lay  in  the  fact  that  they  had  yet  the  resource  of  vio- 
lence which  up  to  this  time  they  had  not  used. 
Carrasco  began  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  outcome, 
but  did  not  appear  to  flinch.  He  pretended  to  be 
convinced  by  the  report  of  the  examining  judge, 
and  told  the  people  that  he  would  at  once  send  a 
despatch  to  Valparaiso  to  have  the  accused 
brought  back  to  Santiago  where  a  fair  trial 
would  be  accorded  them.  This  promise  he  con- 
firmed by  the  customary  oath,  and  at  once  per- 
jured himself  by  sending  Captain  Manuel  Bulnes 
to  the  Intendente  of  Valparaiso  with  absolute  in- 
structions to  send  Rojas,  Ovalle  and  Vera  to  Lima 
by  the  first  vessel  that  left  the  port  of  Valparaiso 
for  the  north. 

Captain  Bulnes  left  Santiago  for  Valparaiso  on 
the  morning  of  the  6th  of  July,  1810,  with  a 
letter  of  credence  for  the  Governor  of  the  Port,  and 
another  for  a  Damian  Segui,  who  happens  for  the 
moment  to  be  churned  up  to  the  surface  of  Chilean 
history,  and  a  sealed  packet  containing  instruc- 
tions for  himself,  which  was  to  be  opened  in  Valpar- 
aiso. Carrasco  had  invested  his  mission  with  an 
injunction  to  secrecy,  and  Bulnes,  who  as  yet  knew 
nothing  of  his  errand,  foolishly  boasted  of  the 
Governor's  confidence  in  him  in  entrusting  him 


130    THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

with  a  mission  of  great  importance.  To  Captain 
Campino  and  to  the  Provincial  of  Santo  Domingo, 
whom  he  met  on  the  road,  he  made  boast  of  his 
favor  with  the  Governor,  and  they  both  rode  into 
Santiago,  full  of  curiosity  as  to  his  meaning. 
This  excited  anew  the  alarm  of  the  city,  and  the 
strange  tidings,  as  it  spread  from  mouth  to  mouth, 
aroused  a  fever  of  suspicion  and  anxiety  as  to  the 
Governor's  purpose.  He  had  invested  his  promise 
to*  recall  Rojas,  Ovalle  and  Vera  with  such  candor, 
he  seemed  to  be  so  willing  to  yield  the  point  of 
jurisdiction  to  the  eager  citzens, — that  for  the 
moment  they  had  believed  him,  but  now  their  old 
distrust  whispered  to  them  fears  of  his  sincerity, 
and  doubt  and  care  filled  their  minds. 

In  Valparaiso,  Bulnes  delivered  to  the  Governor 
of  the  Port  a  despatch  which  directed  him  to  place 
at  Bulnes'  disposal  the  first  vessel  that  could  be 
got  ready  to  take  the  prisoners  to  Peru;  the  de- 
spatch to  Damian  Segui  was  interpreted  solely  by 
Segui's  subsequent  movements ;  and  his  own  letter 
of  instructions  ordered  him  to  embark  at  once  the 
three  captives  on  a  vessel  for  Peru,  to  whose  Vice- 
roy a  despatch  was  enclosed,  to  be  carried  by  the 
Captain  of  the  vessel,  from  whom  Bulnes  was  to 
get  a  receipt  for  the  prisoners  and  bring  it  back  to 
Carrasco.  Bulnes  lost  no  time  in  carrying  out 
his  orders.  He  found  the  old  frigate  Miantonomo 
in  the  port  and  commandeered  it  for  the  Governor's 
purpose.  On  the  10th  of  July  he  led  his  prisoners 
aboard, — or  at  least  Rojas  and  Ovalle,  Vera  being, 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     131 

or  pretending  to  be,  too  ill  to  be  removed — and  ob- 
tained his  receipt  for  them.  On  their  way  to  the 
landing,  they  were  attended  closely  by  Segui  and 
some  forty  armed  ruffians,  who  insulted  and  threat- 
ened the  bewildered  bystanders,  until  their  resent- 
ment of  the  abuse  produced  a  riot  in  the  streets. 
There  was,  however,  no  attempt  at  rescue,  and  ex- 
cept by  Segui  and  his  followers,  the  peace  of  the 
quiet  little  village  was  undisturbed.  The  Gover- 
nor of  the  Port,  Alos,  however,  being  appealed  to 
by  the  insulted  citizens,  caused  Segui  to  be  ar- 
rested and  imprisoned. 

Meanwhile  the  quiet  of  the  Capital  remained 
apparently  undisturbed,  but  in  the  houses  of  the 
Larrain,  Vicuna,  Eyzaguirre  and  others,  meetings 
were  held  where  the  perfidy  of  the  Governor  was 
the  subject  of  excited  harangues,  and  rumor  bore 
about  the  city  the  fears  of  the  leaders.  Men  hur- 
ried through  the  streets,  bearing  from  reunion  to 
reunion  and  from  tertulia  to  tertulia,  the  news  that 
a  general  order  of  arrest  had  been  made  out  for  a 
large  number  of  the  principal  citizens ;  that  the 
city  troops  had  been  directed  by  Carrasco  to  fire 
upon  any  street  assembly;  that  Rojas,  Vera  and 
Ovalle  were  to  be  put  to  death  in  Valparaiso ;  that 
the  Governor  was  minded  to  seize  the  power  of  the 
Colony  and  wield  it  in  his  own  name,  and  that  a 
general  massacre  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  sack- 
ing of  the  city  would  inaugurate  the  new  order  of 
government. 

This  was,  of  course,  the  breath  of  unfounded 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

rumor,  but  when  on  Wednesday,  the  llth  of  July, 
at  nine  in  the  morning,  the  first  courier  from  Val- 
paraiso brought  the  news  that  Rojas  and  Ovalle 
had  actually  been  taken  to  Lima,  where  they  were 
to  be  tried  on  inadequate  charges  before  a  tribunal 
where  their  accusers  were  not  present,  and  that 
Carrasco's  word  of  honor  to  bring  them  back  to 
Santiago!  had  been  violated,  their  fear  gave  way  to 
a  sudden  outburst  of  wrath.  The  city  boiled  with 
excitement.  The  shops  remained  closed  and  the 
streets  were  filled  with  angry  tumult;  the  Plaza 
was  crowded  and  the  palace  was  besieged  by  a 
turbulent  populace,  clamoring  for  speech  with  the 
Governor.  Carrasco  kept  himself  in  retirement 
in  his  palace,  and  admittance  was  refused  without 
the  consigne,  while  the  open  doors  of  the  barracks 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Plaza  showed  the  soldiers 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice  to  march  out  into  the 
city.  Though  Carrasco  made  no  sign,  the  citi- 
zens knew  that  within  the  sleepy  palace  all  was 
alert  and  prepared  to  silence  any  show  of  violence 
on  their  part.  Their  leaders,  Eyzaguirre  and 
Argomedo,  circumspect  and  capable  men,  sought 
a  way  whereby  the  people  with  becoming  dignity 
might  engage  in  the  contention  with  Carrasco 
which  was  now  at  hand.  Gradually  the  word  went 
around  that  a  Cabildo  Abierto,  which  correspoJJBs 
as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  New  England  Town 
Meeting,  would  be  held  in  the  Hall  of  the  Chapter 
and  that  the  doors  would  be  open  to  all.  Thither 
then  the  people  streamed,  filling  the  hall  and  chok- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     133 

ing  the  patio  and  the  street  without.  Not  much 
time  was  lost  in  denunciation  of  the  faithlessness 
of  the  Governor,  for  the  purpose  of  the  meeting 
was  thoroughly  known.  The  Cabildo  voted  that  a 
committee  composed  of  Eyzaguirre,  one  of  the  Al- 
caldes, and  Argomedo,  who  had  been  elected  Pro- 
curator on  Ovalle's  arrest,  should  wait  on  the  Gov- 
ernor and  request  him  to  come  to  the  Chapter  Hall, 
where  the  people  desired  to  make  known  their  com- 
plaints. Carrasco  refused  to  admit  the  commit- 
tee, but  sent  them  word  by  a  porter  that  he  did 
not  care  to  see  them  and  advised  them  to  go  about 
their  business.  They  returned  with  this  insolent 
answer  to  the  meeting. 

Even  then  there  were  no  speeches  made,  but, 
with  a  settled  determination  to  force  an  issue,  the 
mass  of  people,  led  by  the  members  of  the  Cabildo, 
withdrew  quietly  from  the  Chapter  Hall,  and  made 
their  way  to  the  hall  where  the  Royal  Audience 
was  then  in  session.  There  they  found  Santiago 
Concha,  the  Dean  of  the  Audience,  and  the  three 
judges,  Aldunate,  Irigoyen  and  Bazo  i  Berri,  but 
the  Regent,  Ballesteros,  was  with  the  Governor  at 
the  palace.  The  two  Alcaldes  and  the  Rejidores 
of  the  Cabildo  entered,  and  after  them  a  multitude 
jest  men  of  the  city,  and  requested,  since 
fter  was  urgent,  that  the  Audience  send 
fSBKPrrasco  to  come  to  them,  that  the  Cabildo 
might  receive  satisfaction  from  the  Governor  in 
the  matter  of  Rojas,  Ovalle  and  Vera.  Judge 
Irigoyen,  went  in  person  to  the  palace  and  re- 


134    THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

turned  after  a  few  minutes  with  the  Governor  and 
Ballesteros. 

Then  the  Alcalde,  Nicolas  de  la  Cerda,  stated  to 
the  Royal  Audience  in  the  presence  of  the  Gover- 
nor, who  took  his  seat  with  a  smile  of  insolent 
mockery  on  his  lips,  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
arrest  of  the  three  men. 

He  told  of  the  petition  that  had  been  sent  to 
Carrasco  in  behalf  of  the  accused,  and  of  the  Ca- 
bildo  having  guaranteed  their  appearance  if  they 
were  admitted  to  bail.  He  stigmatized  as  an  act 
of  exemplary  injustice  the  removal  of  three  in- 
nocent gentlemen,  two  of  them  advanced  in  years, 
without  a  trial  or  adequate  evidence  of  guilt,  and 
he  demanded  in  the  name  of  the  Cabildo  and  the 
City  of  Santiago  that  an  express  should  be  at  once 
forwarded  to  Lima,  requesting  the  Viceroy  to  send 
them  back  for  trial  before  the  Audience,  which  had 
had  up  to  this  time  no  voice  in  the  matter. 

To  all  this  Carrasco  replied  by  denying  the 
truth  of  what  the  Alcalde  had  said,  and,  his  anger 
increasing,  he  warned  them  all  to  take  care  or  they 
would  be  sent  to  keep  the  conspirators  company. 
This  threat  only  added  to  the  vehemence  of  the 
opposition,  and  the  Alcalde  demanded  that  a  curb 
be  placed  at  once  on  the  power  of  the 
by  enacting  that  no  order  of  his  should  he! 
be  obeyed  which  was  not  countersigned 
ago  Concha,  the  Dean  of  the  Royal  Audience. 
Before  this  could  be  passed,  however,  Carrasco, 
realizing  that  his  yielding  to  their  demand  would 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     135 

be  a  matter  of  little  moment  compared  with  the 
appointment  of  a  guardian  over  his  official  acts  at 
a  time  when  he  must  have  his  hands  perfectly  free, 
gave  up  the  point  and  agreed  to  send  the  required 
papers  to  Lima.  So  the  despatch,  duly  made  out 
for  the  Viceroy,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
Alcaldes,  who  manifestly  preferred  to  take  the 
matter  as  far  as  possible  out  of  the  Governor's 
control.  This  was  accomplished  by  half  an  hour 
after  noon,  on  Wednesday,  July  11,  the  express 
having  only  arrived  from  Valparaiso  with  the  news 
of  the  embarkation  of  Rojas  and  Ovalle  at  nine 
o'clock. 

Determined  to  lose  no  time,  a  little  troop  of  gen- 
tlemen headed  by  Don  Diego  Larrain  rode  out  of 
Santiago  at  two  o'clock,  with  the  necessary  orders 
from  the  Royal  Audience  to  avail  themselves  of 
any  vessel  to  bear  the  despatches  to  Lima.  The 
hope  was  general  among  them  that  a  Norther 
might  even  have  prevented  the  Miantonomo  from 
proceeding  on  her  way,  but  after  covering  the 
thirty  leagues  between  Santiago  and  Valparaiso 
in  seven  and  a  half  hours  of  hard  riding,  they 
reached  the  port  to  find  lhat  their  hopes  were  dis- 
appointed, that  their  friends  were  indeed  gone,  and 
that  the  despatches  to  Lima  must  wait  for  another 
vessel. 

In  Valparaiso,  however,  they  learned  of  the  man- 
ner of  their  friends'  departure  and  the  Governor 
of  the  Port,  Joaquin  de  Alos,  showed  them  a  letter 
that  had  come  to  Segui  after  he  had  been  impris- 


136     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

oned,  which  was  worth  all  the  disappointment  of 
their  failure  to  find  Rojas  and  Ovalle.  This  letter 
contained  a  sentence  or  two  of  such  ominous  import 
as  to  fill  them  with  dismay  and  apprehension. 
Hurriedly  they  returned  to  the  Capital,  to  lay  this 
fatal  missive  before  the  Cabildo. 

During1  the  absence  of  Larrain  and  his  asso- 
ciates, the  quiet  of  the  city  was  undisturbed.  The 
citizens  had  made  a  move  and  scored  a  point,  but 
they  knew  the  game  was  not  yet  played  out,  and 
they  were  determined  to  effect  the  deposition  of 
Carrasco  and  to  do  it  without  putting  themselves 
in  a  wrong  position,  which  would  give  him  an  ex- 
cuse to  call  out  the  soldiers,  as  they  well  knew  he 
was  ready  to  do  on  the  least  pretext.  They  knew 
that,  as  far  as  their  purpose  went  to  depose  Car- 
rasco, the  Royal  Audience  was  with  them,  that  the 
Cabildo  was  at  their  head,  that  the  Church  was  on 
their  side,  and  they  were  resolved  to  accomplish 
their  purpose  without  delay.  Still,  for  a  time, 
a  feeling  of  suspense  pervaded  the  city  which, 
Carrasco  himself  knew,  would  soon  give  place  to 
a  renewed  attack  on  him.  How  it  would  come  he 
did  not  know,  but  his  soul  was  full  of  resentment 
and  demanded  vengeance  upon  those  who  had  op- 
posed and  humiliated  him.  To  thwart  him  he  was 
sure  was  beyond  their  power,  and  he  recalled  to 
mind  with  a  grim  complacency  that  he  had  carried 
out  his  purpose  with  the  three  conspirators  in  the 
face  of  the  Royal  Audience,  the  Cabildo  and  the 
people.  To  secure  himself  from  the  attack  that 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     137 

was  preparing,  he  sent  couriers  to  call  to  the 
Capital  the  troops  on  the  frontier,  he  ordered 
abundance  of  ammunition  to  be  served  out  to  the 
city  troops,  he  caused  cannon  to  be  trained  on  the 
public  square,  he  garrisoned  and  provisioned  the 
palace  and  he  reinforced  the  men  and  increased 
the  supplies  on  Santa  Lucia. 

Although  the  Governor's  preparations  to  resist, 
or  rather  to  subjugate,  the  people  of  Santiago  had 
been  carried  out  as  secretly  as  possible,  yet  the 
nerves  of  the  people  were  too  keen  and  their  ap- 
prehensions too  alert  for  them  to  remain  in  ignor- 
ance of  his  actions,  to  all  of  which  they  correctly 
ascribed  a  malevolent  purpose.  The  middle  of 
.July  is  in  Santiago  the  middle  of  winter,  and  the 
winter  of  1810  was  especially  severe,  but  the  Al- 
caldes, Nicolas  de  la  Cerda  and  Agustin  Eyza- 
guirre,  were  abroad  the  night  of  the  llth, 
providing  against  any  sudden  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Governor.  Under  their  command  were  all 
the  young  men  of  the  best  families  in  the  city,  to 
the  number  of  eight  hundred,  patrolling  the 
streets  (not  very  well  lighted  in  1810),  and 
guarding  the  residences  of  the  city  officials  and 
those  of  the  Judges  as  well,  who  had,  by  showing 
their  sympathy  with  the  Cabildo,  intensified  the 
hatred  with  which  the  Governor  already  regarded 
them.  On  horseback  or  on  foot,  the  improvised 
city  guard  kept  armed  watch  on  every  thorough- 
fare within  the  city.  To  this,  as  a  measure  of  city 
police  under  the  supervision  of  the  Alcaldes,  the 


138     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Governor  could  not  openly  object,  but  as  he  lay 
sleepless  in  the  palace  and  heard  the  sound  of 
feet  and  voices  in  the  street  without,  and  knew 
that  the  people  were  vigilant  in  the  protection  of 
their  rights,  some  misgivings  of  the  outcome  must 
have  entered  his  soul. 

On  Thursday,  the  12th  of  July,  Larrain  and 
his  companions  rode  into  the  city  from  Valparaiso, 
and  at  a  secret  session  of  the  Cabildo  the  letter  to 
Damian  Segui  was  read.  It  was  dated  the  9th 
of  July,  was  signed  with  the  execrated  name  of  Ra- 
fael Diaz  and  closed  with  the  injunction  to  Segui  to 
destroy  it  as  soon  as  he  had  read  it.  Among 
other  things  it  said:  "His  Excellency  directs 
you  to  remain  in  Valparaiso  until  his  orders  to 
Captain  Bulnes  are  executed,  as  I  wrote  you  in 
my  previous  letter  which  I  sent  by  Bulnes,  and  for 
you  to  return  to  this  city  with  him.  If  possible 
bring  your  friends  with  you,  and  see  that  they  are 
well  armed.  We  fear  trouble  here  after  Bulnes 
returns,  and  for  that  reason  it  will  be  well  for 
you  and  your  friends  there  to  come  and  join  us 
in  the  dance." 

The  excitement  that  was  caused  by  this  letter 
is  not  to  be  described,  and  yet  it  was  not  needed  to 
convince  them  that  the  malignant  hostility  of  Car- 
rasco  was  capable  of  invoking  to  his  aid  the  most 
depraved  and  brutal  agents,  nor,  strangely 
enough,  as  one  of  the  Cabildo  pointed  out,  could  it 
be  made  a  valid  instrument  of  attack  against  Car- 
rasco,  who  could  simply  disavow  the  letter  or  deny 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     139 

his  responsibility  for  its  sentiments.  However, 
the  injunction  of  secrecy  to  Segui  did  not  deter- 
mine the  action  of  the  Cabildo,  and  before  night 
everyone  in  Santiago  knew  of  the  letter  and  its 
message,  and  for  the  first  time  it  seemed  as  if  the 
fury  of  the  citizens  would  surpass  the  limits  of 
moderation  and  legality  that  the  Cabildo  had  set 
before  them. 

When  Carrasco,  this  same  day,  July  12,  learned 
of  Segui's  imprisonment,  he  sent  an  order  to  Alos 
to  "set  at  liberty  at  once  my  agent,  Damian  Segui, 
that  he  may  come  and  render  an  account  of  his 
commission."  To  this  Alos  replied  as  follows: 

"SENOR  CAPITAN-GENERAL:  Although  up  to  the 
present  I  am  in  ignorance  of  the  commission  which 
Your  Excellency  is  pleased  to  inform  me  that  you 
confided  to  the  drunken  deserter,  Segui,  inasmuch  as 
he  presented  no  credentials  to  me  from  Your  Excel- 
lency, I  am  compelled  to  believe  that  whatever  com- 
mission was  entrusted  to  him  he  has  so  far  violated  as 
to  have  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  community  and  ex- 
cited a  tumult  with  an  armed  force  of  forty-seven 
men.  This  offense,  of  which  I  see  Your  Excellency 
has  not  been  apprized,  and  of  which  the  said  Segui  is 
doubtless  guilty,  has  induced  me  to  suspend  the  exe- 
cution of  Your  Excellency's  order  until  such  time  as 
the  case  shall  be  concluded  and  sentence  imposed,  no- 
tice of  which  will  be  at  once  forwarded  to  Your 
Excellency  for  your  information. 

"JOAQUIN    DE    ALOS." 

The  polite  insolence  of  this  reply  exasperated 


140     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

beyond  measure  the  Governor  of  Chile.  He  saw 
himself  flouted  by  everyone,  and  in  the  antagonism 
of  the  Royal  Audience,  the  Cabildo,  the  Ecclesias- 
tical body,  and  even  the  citizens,  he  detected  a 
strain  of  derision,  that  cut  deep  into  his  vain, 
passionate  and  arbitrary  soul.  Perhaps  above  all 
else  the  equanimity  of  the  Alcaldes  and  their  in- 
fluence over  the  people  were  gall  and  wormwood  to 
his  proud  spirit,  conscious  as  he  was,  that,  while 
the  populace  seemed  to  keep  its  temper,  he  had 
openly  and  violently  given  way  to  his  own.  His 
reply  to  Alos  discloses  fully  his  state  of  mind, 
but  events  were  now  hurrying  to  a  crisis  and  be- 
fore his  despatch  reached  Valparaiso,  Carrasco's 
violence  was  no  longer  to  be  dreaded. 

But  while  the  letter  to  Segui  added  no  incre- 
ment of  proof  to  the  case  against  Carrasco,  it  cer- 
tainly added  an  impetus  to  it  that  hastened  the 
catastrophe.  No  man  in  Chile  was  hated  and 
feared  like  Segui.  His  life  had  been  a  continuous 
record  of  blood  and  violence,  of  crime  and  punish- 
ment. Centurio,  the  parasite  of  Celestina,  was 
not  a  deadlier  ruffian  than  Segui;  Gilles  de  Laval 
was  not  regarded  with  greater  terror  and  hatred 
in  Brittany  than  Damian  Segui  in  Chile.  He  was 
a  deserter  from  the  Spanish  navy  when  he  came 
first  under  the  protection  of  Carrasco,  and  thence- 
forth the  murderers  of  Banquo'  were  less  confident 
of  immunity.  At  the  suggestion  of  Carrasco  he 
organized  a  band  of  ruffians,  who  executed  his  or- 
ders and  shared  his  security.  The  writer  of  the 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     141 

letter  that  the  Governor  of  Valparaiso  intercepted 
was  Rafael  Diaz,  one  of  Segui's  lieutenants  in 
Santiago.  At  an  earlier  period  this  letter  would 
have  filled  the  Cabildo  and  people  of  the  Capital 
with  dismay;  now  it  arrived  to  quicken  their  ac- 
tion and  lend  wings  to  their  purpose.  Day  and 
night  the  Cabildo  sat  in  constant  session,  day  and 
night  the  city  was  patrolled  by  volunteer  guards, 
and  an  incessant  vigilance  watched  every  move  of 
the  Governor. 

Friday,  the  13th,  Carrasco  visited  the  barracks, 
inspected  thq  artillery  train  and  had  private  con- 
ference with  the  individual  officers.  The  govern- 
ment had  at  that  time  in  Santiago  two  hundred 
infantry  from  Concepcion,  a  squadron  of  the 
Queen's  Dragoons  numbering  fifty,  and  a  battery 
of  light  artillery  with  sixty  men  and  abundant 
supplies  and  ammunition.  On  the  side  of  the 
Governor  were  also  his  official  appointees  and  sub- 
ordinates, perhaps  a  hundred  in  all,  whom  he  pro- 
vided with  arms,  and  his  household  of  twenty  or 
twenty-five  persons,  all  well  armed  and  naturally 
zealous  in  his  cause.  The  Spaniards  of  European 
birth  were  divided  and  ill  at  ease  and  lukewarm, 
leaning  alternately,  with  the  velleity  of  bewilder- 
ment, to  either  side. 

It  was  suspected  at  that  time  and  confirmed 
afterward,  that  Carrasco's  purpose  in  visiting 
the  barracks  was  to  ascertain  how  far  the  officers 
could  answer  for  the  obedience  of  their  men,  and 
to  what  extent  they  themselves  could  be  relied 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

upon  to  carry  out  his  orders.  That  no  uncer- 
tainty might  exist  in  this  matter,  he  told  them 
plainly  that  he  should  expect  them  to  order  their 
battalions  to  fire  upon  the  thickest  of  the  crowd  if 
he  should  give  the  word.  This  intimation  evoked 
no  promise  of  compliance. 

To  such  a  degree  did  the  Chileans  carry  their 
intention  to  give  Carrasco  no  excuse  for  violence, 
that  they  even  permTEfecf  his  couriers  to  pass  out 
of  the  city,  although  they  knew  that  frequent 
messages  were  sent  to  hasten  the  arrival  of  the 
troops  from  the  frontier.  They  also  on  their 
side  applied  to  the  officers  of  the  city  troops  to 
learn  how  far  they  would  carry  out  the  Governor's 
orders,  and  were  reassured  when  the  reply  was 
given,  "Violence  will  not  be  begun  by  the  troops, 
they  will  not  fire  first."  Thus  Segui  and  his 
Sicarii  seemed  all  that  the  Governor  could  rely  on 
with  unquestioned  confidence  of  support,  and 
Segui  was  in  prison  in  Valparaiso. 

While  the  Cabildo,  now  almost  confident  of  the 
result,  was  engaged  in  discussing  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment that  should  follow  the  deposition  of  Car- 
rasco, the  Judges  of  the  Royal  Audience  were  rep- 
resenting to  the  Governor  the  absolute  impossibility 
of  continuing  in  office  without  the  support  or 
countenance  of  any  organized  body  or  of  any 
considerable  number  of  citizens,  and  advising  him 
to  bend  to  the  people's  will  and  resign ;  but  he 
with  his  heart  in  the  troops  that  he  had  ordered 
up  to  the  Capital  from  the  Araucan  frontier,  and 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     143 

in  the  expectation  of  Segui's  arrival,  turned  a 
deaf  ear  to  their  representations.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  Royal  Audience  took  a  secret 
pleasure  in  the  Governor's  prospective  discom- 
fiture, and  that  this  was  doubtless  increased  by 
a  feeling1  of  personal  and  official  resentment  at  his 
attitude  toward  them  at  the  time  of  his  coming 
into  power.  So  it  was  with  a  grim  complacency 
that  they  saw  that  their  arguments  were  without 
effect.  And  yet  their  hope  was  that  in  the  im- 
pending change,  their  own  authority  might  not 
be  swept  away  also,  and  that  their  own  grasp  upon 
the  government  might  in  some  way  be  perpetuated. 

In  the  meantime,  after  a  continuous  session  of 
sixty  hours,  filled  with  plans  practicable  and  im- 
practicable, the  Cabildo  had  decided  upon  its 
course.  Their  meetings  had  been  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent public,  in  that  other  influential  men  of  the 
city  were  in  constant  attendance  and  took  part 
freely  in  the  discussions,  and  yet  those  only  were 
admitted  in  whose  loyalty  and  fidelity  the  Cabildo 
had  implicit  confidence.  And  yet  even  among 
these,  treason  or  timidity  found  two  individuals, 
whose  names  have  not  come  down  to  us,  who 
wrecked  the  scheme  and  thwarted  the  purposes  of  s 
the  Cabildo. 

On  Sunday  night,  July  15,  the  conclusion  was 
reached  that,  on  the  following  day,  the  office  of 
Governor,  President  and  Captain  General  should 
be  declared  vacant,  that  the  Cabildo  should  gov- 
ern the  kingdom  for  a  period  of  five  days,  during 


144     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

which  they  should  summon  a  Cabildo  Abierto  who 
should  appoint  a  provisional  government  to  act 
until  a  Congress  of  Deputies  should  be  elected  by 
all  the  towns  in  the  republic.  Forthwith,  the  two 
unnamed  individuals  sought  the  residence  of  the 
Regent  of  the  Royal  Audience,  Ballesteros,  and 
laid  before  him  the  plan  of  the  Cabildo.  That 
gentleman  saw  in  a  moment  the  consequence  of 
such  a  course  to  himself  and  his  companions.  He 
summoned  them  immediately  and  together  they 
proceeded  to  the  palace.  The  two  informers  dis- 
appeared into  the  darkness  of  unidentified  per- 
sonalities. Their  treachery  was  accomplished. 

Self-interest  makes  strange  alliances ;  and 
rather  than  lose  their  positions,  the  Judges  would 
without  doubt  have  entered  into  an  alliance  with 
Carrasco  at  this  juncture,  if  he  on  his  part  had 
been  able  to  offer  any  guarantees  of  assistance ; 
but  self-interest  demanded  now  that,  in  falling, 
Carrasco  should  not  be  permitted  to  drag  them 
down  also.  His  course  was  run,  and  they  all 
knew  it,  but  the  service  of  the  King  of  Spain  must 
be  continued,  and  they  must  be  protected  in  their 
offices.  Ballesteros  read  him  the  resolution  of 
the  Cabildo  and  with  suitable  courtesy  requested 
his  views  on  the  subject.  Carrasco  taunted  them 
by  saying  that  it  was  the  direct  result  of  their 
countenancing  the  opposition  with  which  the 
Cabildo  had  confronted  him;  that  it  was  the  due 
fruit  of  their  own  labor  and  that  if  he  fell  he  was 
glad  they  were  to  fall  also.  To  this  Ballesteros  an- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     145 

swered  that  it  was  to  prevent  this  very  thing  that 
they  had  urged  him  to  resign,  that  the  King's 
cause  might  be  served,  whereas  the  horrible  word, 
"republic,"  meant  the  loss  of  the  Colony  to  Spain, 
as  well  as  their  own  disgrace. 

Cartfasco,  never  very  careful  to  observe  the 
amenities  of  social  usage,  walked  up  and  down 
the  sala  in  his  agitation.  Suddenly  he  paused 
and  ordered  one  of  the  guards  to  summon  the 
three  chief  officers  of  the  Infantry,  Dragoons  and 
Artillery.  When  they  came  he  demanded  with 
a  sneer  whether  their  consciences  would  permit 
them  to  observe  the  oath  of  loyalty  to  the  King 
of  Spain,  now  that  the  purpose  was  known  to 
withdraw  the  kingdom  of  Chile  from  the  King's 
allegiance  and  set  up  a  hated  republic.  Colonel 
Reina  replied  that  he  would  never  hesitate  to  as- 
sert and  uphold  the  authority  of  the  King  of 
Spain,  but  that  his  men  would  never  fire  upon  an 
unarmed  body  of  citizens ;  that  not  a  man  of  the 
service  would  refuse  to  be  killed  in  battle  for  the 
honor  of  Spain,  but  that  purely  civil  matters  had 
better  be  managed  by  the  civil  authorities,  and 
the  citizens  had  attempted  no  violence.  Before 
awaiting  the  opinions  of  the  others,  Carrasco  in- 
solently ordered  them  to  leave  the  room,  saying, 
that  he  now  knew  what  poltroons  and  traitors  he 
had  to  deal  with,  and  that  he  would  deal  with  them 
accordingly. 

When  the  officers  had  departed,  Ballesteros, 
who  during  this  stormy  interview  had  regarded 


146     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

the  Governor  with  a  stare  of  disdain,  intimated 
coldly  that  their  coming  to  the  palace  was  purely 
with  the  purpose  of  giving  the  Governor  an  op- 
portunity to  save  himself  from  the  disgrace  of 
deposition  by  a  voluntary  resignation,  but  that 
to  them  it  was  personally  a  matter  of  little  im- 
portance, provided  the  King's  cause  did  not  suffer. 

"You  want  to  save  your  own  skins,"  replied  the 
Governor  violently. 

"No,"  said  Santiago  Concha,  "we  want  to  be 
in  a  position  to  tell  the  King  that  Your  Excel- 
lency was  not  content  with  your  own  disgrace,  but 
that  you  were  determined  also  to  destroy,  as  far 
as  your  power  went,  the  Colony  of  Chile;  that  if 
Your  Excellency  must  suffer,  you  are  determined 
that  the  King's  cause  should  suffer  also." 

"Your  Excellency  has  accused  these  brave  men 
of  being  poltroons  and  traitors,"  added  Irigoyen, 
severely,  "see  to  it  that  something  worse  may  not 
be  reported  with  greater  justice  of  Your  Excel- 
lency." 

Ballesteros  had  continued  to  watch  Carrasco 
closely  and  now,  observing  signs  of  yielding,  he 
said,  quietly: 

"While  nothing  but  praise  can  be  uttered  for 
the  man  who  forgets  his  own  resentments  in  the 
cause  of  the  King." 

At  that  Carrasco  yielded,  and  after  exacting  a 
promise  that  the  Royal  Audience  would  represent 
the  matter  to  his  advantage  in  their  report  to  the 
King,  and  continue  his  salary,  he  signified  his 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     147 

willingness  to  resign  the  office  of  governor  the  next 
day. 

The  Royal  Audience,  after  a  sagacious  and 
admirably  conducted  campaign,  had  won  a  great 
victory.  They  had  overthrown  their  enemy  and 
discomfited  their  allies.  The  resignation  of  Car- 
rasco  spoiled  completely  the  plans  of  the  Cabildo. 
There  was  to  be  no  Congress  of  Deputies,  no 
Republic.  The  people  were  so  pleased  with  the 
demission  of  Carrasco  that  they  seemed  to  de- 
sire nothing  further.  Processions  were  formed, 
guns  were  fired,  speeches  were  made,  holiday  pre- 
vailed. Meantime,  before  the  Cabildo  could  re- 
adjust themselves  and  their  purposes  to  the 
changed  conditions,  the  Royal  Audience  announced 
that  Don  Mateo  Toro  Zambrano  i  Ureta,  Conde  de 
la  Conquista,  as  ranking  Brigadier,  had  succeeded 
to  the  government  left  vacant  by  the  resignation 
of  Carrasco.  The  Cabildo  had  been  outwitted 
and  discredited,  having  taken  a  lesson  in  strategy 
from  the  Judges  of  the  Royal  Audience. 

There  was  to  be  no  change,  then,  in  the  con- 
duct of  affairs.  The  Cabildo  was  to  sink  back  into 
its  previous  condition  of  municipal  inconsequence^ 
The  only  result  they  had  achieved  was.  to  exchange 
a  hated  ruler  for  one  whom  the  people  loved  as 
well  as  respected,  and  the  dream  of  self-govern- 
ment was  dispelled;  the  cup  of  freedom  was 
snatched  from  their  very  lips. 

At  this  time  there  did  not  exist  among  the 
Colonial  leaders  in  Santiago  a  condition  of  perfect 


148     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

unanimity.  This  had  been  amply  shown  in  the 
debates  and  delays  that  took  place  in  the  Cabildo 
before  the  "plan"  was  formulated  which  awakened 
Ballesteros  to  successful  action.  Among  them 
some,  who  acknowledged  Don  Manuel  Salas  as  their 
leader,  were  averse  from  any  attempt  at  self- 
government  and  desired  reform  under  a  continu- 
ance of  Peninsular  control  and  a  Spanish  govern- 
ment. They  wished  no  innovations.  They  feared 
the  consequences  of  even  seeming  to  withdraw  from 
the  protection  of  Spain,  and  distrusted  their 
ability  and  that  of  their  countrymen  to  substi- 
tute a  durable  government  in  the  stead  of  Spanish 
authority.  These  were  Tories,  not  from  self- 
interest  but  from  conviction,  and  perhaps  also 
from  timidity.  They  were  still  dazzled  by  the 
distant^  and  tarnished  glamour  of  Spain. 

The  second  class,  among  whom  Don  Jose  Miguel 
Infante  rose  quickly  to  the  rank  of  leader  after 
the  fiasco  of  the  "plan"  of  the  Cabildo,  represented 
at  first  almost  the  whole  Colony.  They  came  to 
be  called  the  "Moderados"  after  the  rise  of  the 
third  party,  and  we  may  already,  in  justifiable 
anticipation,  so  denominate  them.  Their  purpose 
was  to  nominate  a  "Junta  Colonial,"  which  should 
"preserve  the  rights  of  the  King  in  captivity," 
and  remain  subordinate  to  the  Junta  Central, 
taking  no  further  step  toward  emancipation.  It 
may  safely  be  affirmed  that  the  term  "republic," 
which  Ballesteros  so  freely  denounced,  was  rather 
a  flourish  than  an  essential  purpose ;  and  the  Con- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     149 

gress  of  Deputies  was  a  concession  to  the  more 
radical  members  and  was  not  intended  as  a  move- 
ment toward  independence.  The  exact  origin  of 
the  Congress  may  be  explained  in  a  few  words. 
The  Junta  Central,  anxious  to  conciliate  the  good- 
will of  the  Colonies  and  to  impress  them  with  its 
paternal  supervision  of  their  interests,  committed 
the  mistake  of  directing  their  attention  to  the 
fact  that  they  were  not  an  inferior  and  accidental, 
but  an  intrinsic  and  integral  part  of  the  dominions 
of  the  King,  whose  style  was  "King  of  Spain  and 
the  Indies,"  and  that,  as  such  essential  portion 
of  the  King's  dominions,  they  were  entitled  by  law 
to  the  same  representation  in  the  Cortes  as  the 
provinces  of  Spain;  that,  therefore,  when  the 
Cortes  were  again  convened,  the  privilege,  or 
rather  the  right,  would  be  accorded  them  to  elect 
one  deputy  from  each  of  the  Colonies,  to  sit  in 
the  Cortes.  The  mistake  of  the  Junta  Central 
lay  not  so  much  in  apprizing  the  Colonies  of  their 
right  to  representation,  as  in  their  niggardly  with- 
holding the  half  of  that  right,  for  each  of  the 
Peninsular  provinces  was  entitled  to  elect  two 
deputies  to  the  Cortes,  whereas  the  very  instru- 
ment that  acknowledged  the  equal  rights  of  the 
Colonies  curtailed  their  representation  to  one.  It 
was  probably  in  resentment  of  this  injustice  that 
the  election  of  deputies  to  a  Cortes  or  Congress  of 
their  own,  was  discussed  and  finally  agreed  on  by 
the  Cabildo.  Afterward  the  Chileans  learned  to 
interpret  their  other  restrictions  in  the  light  of 


150     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

this  incident,  and  thus  at  length  their  eyes  were 
opened  and  they  knew  that  they  had  been  always 
defrauded  of  their  numerous  rights  of  local  town 
government,  among  other  things,  and  of  the  levy- 
ing of  local  taxes,  the  expeditures  of  public 
moneys,  local  courts  of  justice  and  some  freedom 
of  commerce  and  travel.  But  these  considerations 
did  not  so  much  stimulate  them  to  seek  independ- 
ence as  confirm  them  in  it  when  it  was  once  at- 
tained, and  when,  looking1  back,  they  saw  the  hole 
of  the  pit  whence  they  had  been  digged.  So 
though  they  had  wandered  near  the  line  that  sepa- 
rates submission  from  independence,  they  had  at 
present  no  purpose  to  cross  it  and  declare  their 
freedom. 

Perhaps  no  revolution  ever  proposed  to  itself 
the  exact  end  that  it  ultimately  attained,  or  rested 
satisfied  with  the  cessation  of  the  abuse  against 
which  it  was  primarily  directed.  Yet  among  the 
Moderados,  and  of  continually  increasing  influ- 
ence, were  a  few  men,  the  full  extent  of  whose 
designs  was  concealed  under  the  temporary  cloak 
of  expediency,  but  who  were  resolved  that  one  step 
should  follow  another  until  perfect  independence 
was  obtained.  To  this  party — subsequently 
known  as  Exaltados — belonged  Rozas,  O'Hig- 
gins  and  a  few*  select  spirits,  members  of  the  Gran 
Reunion  Americana,  imbued  with  the  principles 
of  the  Encyclopedic  and  fearless  of  the  future. 
Little  did  the  Moderados  foresee  that  the  inex- 
orable logic  of  events  would  sweep  them  and  their 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     151 

fragile  Junta  into  the  red  road  of  revolution  and 
war,  but  the  disciples  of  Diderot  and  D'Alembert 
were  wiser,  and  while  working  for  the  time  in 
harmony  with  the  Moderados,  they  gathered  about 
them  in  a  few  months  the  most  learned  and  in- 
fluential citizens  of  the  Capital.  Infante  himself 
was  in  time  won  over,  with  Eyzaguirre,  Argomedo 
and  the  rest  of  the  Cabildo ;  Salas,  too,  the  statis- 
tician and  reformer — the  son  of  the  old  Judge 
whose  pathetic  prayer  to  the  King  was  never 
heeded,  that  he  might  die  in  peace  and  honor 
after  a  long  life  of  devoted  service — came  to 
recognize  the  worth  and  assist  the  efforts  of  the 
Exaltados  and  thus  round  out  the  complete  list 
of  Chilean  patriotism;  but  this  happy  fusion  was 
delayed  until  after  the  death  of  Rozas,  when  the 
Chileans  were  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
threat  of  an  invading  army. 

During  the  progress  of  this  irregular  contest 
between  the  Royal  Audience  and  the  Cabildo,  im- 
portant tidings  from  Buenos  Ayres  had  from 
time  to  time  come  to  Santiago,  which  influenced 
very  greatly  the  outcome  of  the  struggle  in  Chile. 
To  understand  this  influence  we  must  consider 
briefly  the  state  of  affairs  in  Buenos  Ayres.  When, 
in  1806,  England  and  Spain  were  again  at  war, 
Pitt,  who  understood  public  feeling  in  the  Spanish 
Colonies  even  less  than  he  understood  that  in 
England,  endeavored  to  foment  disturbances  be- 
tween Spain  and  her  American  possessions,  by  in- 
citing them  to  revolt  and  offering  them  aid.  In 


152     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

the  prosecution  of  this  purpose  General  Beresford 
was  sent  with  a  squadron  to  take  possession  of 
Buenos  Ayres.  The  results  of  this  expedition 
were  unexpected  and  momentous.  Pitt  had  died 
in  January,  1806,  "killed  at  Austerlitz,"  as  Wil- 
ber force  said,  but  there  was  no  change  in  his 
policy.  Beresford  landed  a  body  of  men  in 
Buenos  Ayres,  terrified  the  inhabitants  by  the  dis- 
play of  military  force,  and  took  possession  of  the 
city.  The  Colonists,  however,  soon  rallied,  at- 
tacked the  English  and  drove  them  to  seek  safety 
in  their  ships.  Beresford  crossed  the  river  to 
Montevideo,  which  he  captured,  and  in  which  for 
some  months  hq  remained  awaiting  reinforcements. 
These  finally  came,  Beresford  was  superseded  by 
General  Whitlocke,  and  in  the  year  of  1807 
Buenos  Ayres  was  invested  a  second  time.  But 
in  anticipation  of  a  renewed  attack  the  people 
had  improvised  breastworks  of  dried  ox-hides  and 
though  the  city  was  stormed  on  July  5,  1807, 
the  English  were  repulsed  and  obliged  to  capitu- 
late under  an  agreement  to  leave  the  province 
and  to  desist  from  any  further  hostility. 

The  news  of  the  English  defeat  rang  through 
South  America  and  echoed  over  the  shores  of 
Europe.  The  Buenos  Ayreans  became  veritable 
heroes,  not  only  in  their  own  eyes  but  in  the  flat- 
tering encomiums  of  the  neighboring  provinces. 
Their  self-consciousness  of  valor,  instead  of  abat- 
ing, increased  to  such  an  extent,  that  on  May  25, 
1810,  when  the  news  reached  them  that  the  whole 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     153 

of  Spain  was  in  the  hands  of  the  French  and  that 
the  Junta  Central  was  dissolved,  they  proceeded  to 
the  palace  and  demanded  the  instant  resignation 
of  the  viceroy.  Cisneros  yielded  gladly  to  their  de- 
mand, and  in  a  moment  the  Buenos  Ayreans  found 
to  their  consternation  that  they  were  free.  When 
Touchstone  stood  in  the  Forest  of  Arden  and 
looked  about  him,  he  remarked  with  regret  that 
when  he  was  at  home  he  was  in  a  better  place. 
There  was,  however,  in  the  Argentine  mind  no  per- 
ception of  the  humor  that  really  lay  in  the 
Argentine  situation.  They  had  no  wish  to  be 
free.  They  were  filled  with  resentment  at  their 
own  success,  for  they  felt  that  they  could  not 
stand  alone. 

The  system  of  Colonial  subjugation  which 
Spain  had  sustained  for  centuries  in  her  American 
possessions,  though  everywhere  an  important 
obstacle  to  the  inauguration  of  independence,  was 
perhaps  a  less  immediate  cause  of  the  anxiety  and 
trepidation  of  the  Buenos  Ayreans  than  the  tur- 
bulent and  lawless  character  of  the  population 
throughout  the  surrounding  country.  Between 
the  city  of  Buenos  Ay  res  and  the  other  towns  and 
centres  of  population  of  the  Argentine,  there  was 
a  feeling  of  distrust,  hatred,  and  fear.  Disdain 
on  one  side  and  envy  on  the  other  have,  even  dur- 
ing a  great  part  of  their  century  of  freedom,  pro- 
duced constant  ill-will  between  them.  Perhaps  to 
the  administration  of  General  Mitre  may  be 
ascribed  the  inception  of  an  era  of  goodwill.  At 


154     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

the  period  which  at  present  interests  us  there  was 
no  mutual  confidence  between  Buenos  Ayres  and 
the  rest  of  the  Argentine.  So  General  Belgrano 
and  Don  Bernardino  Rivadavia  were  sent  to  Eng- 
land to  seek  an  English  prince  of  the  blood  to 
rule  them.  In  the  event  of  England's  refusal, 
they  were  instructed  to  make  the  same  offer  to 
France,  Austria,  Russia,  and  finally,  in  a  frenzy 
of  fear  and  impotence,  they  were  directed  to  ap- 
proach Spain  with  the  offer  of  a  renewal  of  their 
subjection  under  certain  conditions,  and,  pre- 
sumably, certain  guarantees.  This  programme 
was  not  wholly  carried  out,  but  the  attempt  was 
an  interesting  one. 

In  much  the  same  spirit  of  conscious  weakness 
an  embassy  was  sent  to  Chile,  after  the  transac- 
tion of  May  £5,  to  solicit  aid  from  the  Cabildo 
of  Santiago.  This  constitutes  a  very  remarkable 
episode,  which  Tocornal,  in  his  paper  on  the 
"Primer  Gobierno  Nacional,"  has  involved  in  ad- 
ditional obscurity.  Into  a  detailed  narrative  of 
this  "embassy"  or  "mission,"  we  may  not  at 
present  enter,  but,  when  stripped  of  its  unneces- 
sary mystery,  it  seems  that  the  Buenos  Ayres 
Junta  despatched  a  secret  agent  to  Chile  to  enter 
into  relations  with  the  Cabildo,  to  foment  cau- 
tiously a  spirit  of  resistance  to  Spain,  and  to  pro- 
cure in  some  way  a  force  of  men  to  support 
Buenos  Ayres  against  the  towns  of  the  Argentine 
which  threatened  revolt,  and  against  whatever 
army  Spain  might  send  to  restore  her  fallen  gov- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     155 

eminent.  The  envoy  was  Don  Gregorio  Gomez, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  strengthened  greatly 
the  Cabildo  of  Santiago  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
plans,  while  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Santiago 
Junta  was  to  permit  a  body  of  three  hundred  men 
to  be  placed  at  the  service  of  the  Junta  of  Buenos 
Ay  res.  We  now  resume  the  interrupted  narrative. 

While  the  Royal  Audience  was  congratulating 
itself  on  the  success  of  its  strategy  in  preserving 
the  ancient  government  from  innovation  and  the 
Audience  itself  from  dissolution,  the  Cabildo  was 
regaining  its  equilibrium,  and  readjusting  itself. 
It  soon  discovered  that  the  plan  of  July  15  was 
rather  disordered  than  impaired  by  the  finesse  of 
the  Royal  Audience,  whose  great  victory  was  in 
reality  only  a  skirmish,  in  which  the  Cabildo  had 
been  worsted  without  loss,  and  which  perhaps,  if 
skillfully  retrieved,  might  prove  to  have  only  post- 
poned the  day  of  their  ultimate  success.  In  the 
continued  prosecution  of  their  labor,  however,  they 
took  the  precaution  to  exclude  carefully  any  possi- 
ble informers  or  traitors  to  the  cause.  They  then 
formed  the  magnificent  and  audacious  purpose  not 
of  thwarting  or  deriding  their  new  Governor  but 
of  adopting  him. 

The  Conde  de  la  Conquista  was  an  amiable 
gentleman  of  great  age,  for  he  was  over  eighty, 
of  inconspicuous  ability,  of  gentle  manners,  of 
considerable  wealth  and  of  Chilean  birth,  all  of 
which  qualified  him  admirably  for  the  part  that 
he  was  destined  soon  to  play  in  the  cause  of  in- 


156     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

dependence.  Of  his  three  sons,  the  eldest,  Jose, 
who  was  to  inherit  the  title  and  entailed  estates, 
and  who  moreover  had  married  a  Spanish  lady, 
naturally  clung  to  the  royalist  cause;  but  the 
other  two  sons,  Domingo  Toro  and  Joaquin  Toro, 
were  followers  and  ardent  admirers  of  Infante, 
Argomedo  and  Eyzaguirre.  The  first  step  that 
the  Cabildo  took  showed  the  Royal  Audience  that 
the  great  battle  was  now  joined,  for  while  Bal- 
lesteros  was  dilating  with  complacency  over  his 
strategy,  the  Cabildo  persuaded  the  Governor  to 
appoint  as  his  secretary,  Argomedo,  the  Pro- 
curator who  had  taken  the  chief  part  in  formulat- 
ing the  "plan"  which  excited  Ballesteros  to  ac- 
tion, and  who  had  been  especially  bitter  in  his 
opposition  to  the  late  Governor.  Jose  Miguel  In- 
fante was  elected  Procurator  in  Argomedo's  place. 
The  new  Governor  was  himself  a  Chilean  and 
the  authority  of  the  Cabildo  was  sympathetic  to 
him  in  that  it  was  composed  of  his  personal 
friends  who  had  his  entire  confidence.  Persuaded 
by  Argomedo,  he  began  to  refer  to  them  many 
of  the  details  of  government,  and  Ballesteros  saw 
with  chagrin  that  the  Count  was  become  in  reality 
an  ally  of  the  Cabildo  rather  than  of  the  Royal 
Audience.  It  was  at  this  critical  time  that  news 
came  from  Spain  that  the  discredited  Junta  Cen- 
tral had  been  driven  out  of  Cadiz  and  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  Isla  de  Leon,  and  that  the  Junta 
had  been  replaced  by  a  Supreme  Council  of  Re- 
gency. Although  this  had  taken  place  in  Jan- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     157 

uary,  1810,  it  was  not  until  the  latter  part  of 
July  that  the  news  reached  Chile.  The  Governor 
applied  to  the  Cabildo  for  their  advice  as  to  whether 
he  should  recognize  the  new  authority,  and  Infante 
quickly  resolved  his  doubt.  He  characterized  the 
Supreme  Council  as  irresponsible  and  without  au- 
thority; "any  one  has  the  same  right  to  assume 
by  arrogation  a  similar  title,  but  who  will  deem 
such  assumption  adequate  and  competent?  If  we 
are  an  integral  portion  of  Spanish  territory,  we 
alone  are  able  to  affirm  and  vindicate  the  privi- 
leges that  the  law  guarantees  to  us,  and!  constitute 
a  government  that  shall  conserve  the  authority  of 
the  King.  In  Spain  the  provinces  have  installed 
their  own  Juntas,  and  the  people  have  delegated 
to  them  their  authority,  but  no  provincial  Junta 
can  compel  the  obedience  of  any  other.  Aragon 
cannot  force  Seville  to  submit  to  her,  nor  can  any 
aggregation  of  Juntas  or  any  Junta  representing 
even  a  majority  of  the  provinces,  enforce  her  au- 
thority on  the  rest.  We  have  the  same  rights  as 
any  other  province  of  Spain,  and  may  like  them 
elect  a  Junta  for  ourselves  which  shall  rule  us  in 
the  name  of  Ferdinand.  Let  us  then  follow  the 
example  that  the  Peninsular  provinces  have  given 
us." 

But  even  the  Cabildo  was  divided  on  this  ques- 
tion, and  on  a  vote  being  taken,  a  majority,  fear- 
ing the  action  of  the  Supreme  Council  and  being 
uncertain  whether  that  body  might  not  derive  its 
authority  from  Ferdinand,  decided  to  recognize 


158     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

the  new  Supreme  Council.  The  discussion  had, 
however,  taken  some  time,  and  the  Royal  Audi- 
ence, vexed  at  the  delay,  sent  a  note  to  the  Gov- 
ernor requiring  him  to  publish  the  proclamation 
at  once.  On  his  applying  again  to  the  Cabildo 
for  advice,  however,  the  astonishing  response  was 
returned  that  they  were  willing  merely  to  pass  a 
resolution  recognizing  the  Supreme  Council,  but 
would  not  yet  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  it. 
In  this  manner  and  after  a  month's  delay  the 
proclamation  was  finally  issued  on  the  22nd  of 
August,  with  the  imperfect  concurrence  of  the 
Cabildo. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  explain  the  extreme  in- 
decision of  the  Cabildo,  if  one  did  not  remember 
the  fact  that  they  were  still  under  the  Shadow 
of  Spain,  still  under  the  spell  of  the  monarchy. 
Their  dread  was  the  result  of  centuries  of  fear 
and  awe;  the  "Dogma  of  the  Royal  Majesty"  was 
still  a  part  of  their  religion  and  of  their  daily 
life;  they  still  feared  death  less  than  the  restored 
majesty  of  Spain,  and  were  timid  and  as  yet  un- 
tried in  the  rough  path  of  revolution. 

Review  then  for  a  moment  the  condition  of  af- 
fairs when  the  news  came  to  the  Colonies  that  the 
last  Peninsular  stronghold  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  French.  The  Junta  Central,  long  since  dis- 
credited; the  object  of  contempt  among  its  enemies 
and  of  suspicion  among  its  friends ;  having  for- 
feited its  prestige  by  its  misfortunes  and  its 
authority  by  its  indecision ;  was  yet  more  nearly 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     159 

representative  of  the  sentiment  of  the  Spanish 
people  than  Charles  IV.,  a  captive  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  or  Ferdinand  VII.,  a  prisoner  at  Val- 
en9ai.  Ferdinand's  sister,  the  Princess  Car- 
lota  Joaquina,  had  tried  to  subvert  the  loyalty  of 
the  Colonies ;  the  English  had  seized  a  part  of 
Spain's  Colonial  possessions  and  were  greedy  for 
more ;  the  French  were  false ;  some  of  the  Colonial 
governors,  notoriously  Don  Juan  de  Casas,  the 
governor  of  Venezuela,  were  known  to  favor  the 
usurper,  and  all  were  suspected  of  disloyalty  to 
Ferdinand.  Had  not  many  of  the  nobles  and 
generals  of  Spain  given  in  their  adherence  to 
Napoleon?  Had  not  even  Don  Tomas  de  Morla, 
Captain  General  of  Madrid,  treacherously  deliv- 
ered the  Capital  of  Spain  itself  into  the  hated 
hands  of  the  French?  Don  Francisco  de  Saavedra 
had  sent  a  list  of  thirty-two  Spanish  magnates 
whose  estates  had  been  declared  confiscated  by 
the  Junta  for  their  adherence  to  King  Joseph.  It 
seemed  that  all  the  world  was  in  league  against 
their  King  and  that  they  alone  were  faithful  io 
him.  The  English  had  already  attacked  Buenos 
Ay  res,  and  the  Colonies,  trained  and  disciplined 
to  dependence,  felt  powerless  to  defend  them- 
selves against  similar  attacks.  Moreover,  months 
passed  before  the  events  in  Spain  were  known  in 
the  Colonies,  and  the  whole  world  was  to  them 
involved  in  vertiginous  uncertainty  and  impending 
ruin.  Napoleon's  efforts  to  induce  the  South 
American  Colonies  to  separate  from  Spain  were 


160    THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

not,  as  is  well  known,  limited  to  mere  persuasion ; 
but,  while  his  emissaries  found  little  comfort  to 
their  hopes  in  the  loyal  devotion  of  the  Colonists, 
yet  the  French  intrigues  added  to  the  bewilder- 
ment and  distrust  which  beset  the  distracted  minds 
of  the  Spanish  Americans. 

Such  was  their  condition  when  it  became  known 
that  the  Junta  Central  was  dissolved  and  dis- 
persed, and  the  last  legitimate  vestige  of  royal 
authority  abolished.  Spain  was  now  entirely  sub- 
jugated, and  the  end  of  all  things  was  at  last 
reached ;  and,  while  the  colonies  seemed  to  them- 
selves impotent  to  withstand  a  hostile  world,  they 
still,  in  a  kind  of  desperation,  assumed  the  task 
of  preserving  the  royal  inheritance  as  far  as  pos- 
sible and  of  vindicating  their  loyalty  to  their  King. 

By  this  time  the  relations  of  the  various  parties 
in  the  city  had  become  definitely  adjusted;  on  one 
side  were  the  Royal  Audience  and  the  Clergy,  and 
on  the  other  the  Cabildo,  the  Governor  and  the 
Capital ;  but  the  Audience  occupied  the  anomalous 
position  of  being  opposed  to  their  President,  the 
Governor;  the  Cabildo  was  not  yet  firmly  united 
on  any  consistent  plan  which  was  pleasing  to  In- 
fante, and  the  clergy  was  divided  among  them- 
selves. And  now  a  new  element  was  introduced 
into  the  situation,  which  promised  the  Royal  Audi- 
ence a  decisive  triumph ;  the  news  came  to  San- 
tiago that  the  Supreme  Council  had  named  Gen- 
eral Francisco  Xavier  Elio  as  Governor  and  Cap- 
tain General  of  Chile,  and  that  he  was  on  the 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     161 

point  of  setting  out  for  his  new  government. 
Moreover,  Ballesteros  persuaded  the  clergy  of  the 
city  to  send  to  each  parish  throughout  the  diocese 
of  Santiago,  a  protest  against  the  avowed  purpose 
of  the  Cabildo  to  elect  a  Junta,  this  protest  to  be 
circulated  by  the  parish  priests  and  to  be  signed 
by  all  the  male  residents  in  each  parish.  They 
also  went  in  a  body  to  the  palace  and  laid  before 
the  Governor  a  vigorous  protest,  complaining  that 
he  assisted  the  Cabildo  at  the  expense  of  loyalty, 
dignity  and  honor,  and  warning  him  of  the  proba- 
ble action  of  the  newly  named  governor  when  he 
should  on  his  arrival  be  informed  of  the  Count's 
official  derelictions.  To  this  Ballesteros  added 
that  it  would  be  a  peculiarly  reprehensible  thing 
if  the  Count,  being  only  Governor  ad  interim, 
should  abet  a  party  that  was  hostile  to  the  King's 
interest,  and  should  prepare  scandal  and  trouble 
and  danger  for  his  successor.  The  mild  old  man 
was  deeply  wounded  by  these  charges  and  insinua- 
tions, and  petulently  replied  that  he  would  do 
nothing  at  all  in  the  future  for  either  side;  that 
General  Elio  when  he  came  would  find  the  matter 
where  it  was  now  and  that  he  washed  his  hands 
of  the  whole  subject.  The  Audience  withdrew  in 
triumph ;  they  felt  that  the  game  was  won. 

But  they  reckoned  without  Infante,  and  Argo- 
medo  and  Eyzaguirre  and  the  Regidores  Er- 
razuriz  and  Juan  Alcalde,  who  also  learned  of  the 
appointment  of  General  Elio  and  knew  that  their 
time  was  at  hand.  They  succeeded  in  unit- 


162     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

ing  the  Cabildo  by  representing  to  them  the 
necessity  of  immediate  action  and  the  fatal  con- 
sequence of  delaying  the  settlement  of  the  ques- 
tion of  their  local  government  until  the  arrival 
of  the  new  governor  should  substitute  an  enemy 
for  an  ally.  Infante  then  addressed  them  and 
succeeded  in  infusing  into  them  some  of  the  en- 
thusiasm which  filled  him.  Thenceforth  there  were 
to  be  no  doubt  and  no  hesitation  in  the  action  of 
the  municipal  body. 

The  matter  of  the  clerical  protest  was  disre- 
garded for  the  time,  until  the  next  important  de- 
mand was  satisfactorily  settled,  and  they  decided 
that  they  would  call  on  the  Governor  in  a  body 
and  neutralize  the  action  of  the  Royal  Audience. 
It  was  characteristic  of  the  chivalrous  honor  of 
the  members  of  the  Cabildo?  that  they  apprized  the 
Royal  Audience  of  their  purpose  to  interview  the 
Governor,  leaving  it  with  Ballesteros  to  bring  his 
colleagues  if  he  thought  fit.  Ballesteros  pre- 
ferred intrigue  to  open  warfare,  but  his  courage 
was  without  question,  and  he  brought  the  Royal 
Audience  with  him  to  the  palace. 

At  eight  o'clock  on  September  12th,  the  Gov- 
ernor received  the  members  of  the  Cabildo  and 
those  of  the  Royal  Audience  in  conference.  There 
were  also  present  the  Governor's  Asesor,  Marin, 
his  secretary,  Argomedo,  and  a  few  of  the  more  im- 
portant representatives  of  Santiago  society.  There 
is  no  need  of  reproducing  the  arguments  which 
both  sides  lavished  upon  the  Governor,  for  the 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     163 

issue  was  dubious  and  there  was  no  result  reached 
which  satisfied  anyone.  The  criminations  of  Bal- 
lesteros  yet  rang  in  the  Count's  ears  and  the 
Cabildo  withdrew  discomfited.  But  though  they 
had  seemed  at  the  time  to  have  produced  no  effect, 
the  Count,  after  passing  a  sleepless  night,  in- 
formed them  on  the  following  day,  Friday,  Sep- 
tember 14,  that  he  had  decided  with  them  that  a 
Junta  should  be  elected  and  that  he  would  ap- 
point the  following  Tuesday,  the  18th  instant,  for 
a  Cabildo  Abierto,  when  the  members  of  the  Junta 
should  be  named. 

The  joy  of  the  Cabildo  and  the  dismay  of  the 
Royal  Audience  at  this  announcement  cannot  be 
described.  Don  Jose  Miguel  Infante  at  once 
drew  up  a  card  of  invitation  to  send  to  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  of  the  friends  of  the  Cabildo,  to 
ensure  the  presence  of  a  body  of  adherents  large 
enough  to  overawe  opposition.  It  was  conceived 
in  the  following  terms : 

"On  the  18th  of  the  present  month  the  very  illus- 
trious Senor  Governor  with  the  illustrious  Cabildo  will 
receive  you  in  the  Hall  of  the  Royal  Tribunal  to  con- 
sider the  best  way  to  conserve  the  public  safety  and  to 
discuss  what  system  of  government  should  be  adopted 
to  preserve  this  kingdom  for  our  Senor  don  Ferdinand 
VII."  * 

1  "Para  el  dia  18  del  corriente,  espera  a  vd.  el  mui  illustre 
senor  presidente  con  el  illustre  ayuntamiento  en  la  sala  del 
real  tribunal  del  consulado  6,  tratar  de  los  medios  de  seguri- 
dad  publica,  discutiendose  alii  que  sistema  de  Gobierno 
deba  adoptarse  para  conservar  siempre  estos  dominios  al 
sefior  don  Fernando  VII." 


164    THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

The  printing  press  was  not  introduced  into 
Chile  until  the  following  year,  and  a  hand  stamp 
was  used  to  print  these  cards  of  invitation.  The 
Royal  Audience  at  once  replied  to  this  challenge 
by  a  note  to  the  Governor,  protesting  against  the 
innovation,  and  repeating  their  arguments  against 
the  proposed  change  of  government.  The  Gov- 
ernor replied  through  Argomedo,  offering  them 
his  palace  for  another  joint  interview  with  the 
Cabildo,  and  promising  to  be  guided  by  the  ma- 
jority vote  of  those  present.  The  Royal  Audi- 
ence answered  that  to  decide  a  question  of  in- 
fringing the  King's  rights  by  the  vote  of  an  ir- 
regular meeting  was  not  sanctioned  by  the  laws 
of  Spain ;  that  while  the  Cabildo  outnumbered  the 
Royal  Audience  two  to  one,  it  was  not  seemly  to 
invite  the  latter  body  to  a  contest  of  numbers ; 
that  in  accepting  the  Governor's  offer  they  would 
expose  themselves  to  unnecessary  humiliation ;  and 
they  ended  by  a  renewed  warning  against  his  fur- 
thering the  revolutionary  purposes  of  the  Cabildo. 

On  the  14th  the  Royal  Audience  procured  a 
copy  of  the  invitation  and  presented  another  remon- 
strance against  the  discussion  of  the  system  of 
government  by  the  Cabildo  "or  any  other  incom- 
petent body."  Infante,  who  desired!  to  conciliate 
the  Audience,  if  it  were  in  any  way  possible,  at 
once  changed  the  form  of  invitation.  A  new  card 
was  issued  which  was  as  follows : 

"The  very  illustrious  Governor  with  the  illustrious 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     165 

Cabildo  expects  you  at  the  Hall  of  the  Royal  Consul- 
ate at  9  A.  M.  on  the  18th  inst.,  to  consult  and  decide 
upon  the  most  fitting  means  for  the  defense  of  the 
kingdom  and  for  the  public  tranquillity."  * 

The  clergy  were  then  appeased  by  the  assur- 
ance that  no  change  was  contemplated  in  the  pres- 
ent system  of  Church  Government,  and  that  their 
interests  were  to  be  safeguarded  exactly  as  they 
had  always  been.  The  guarantee  of  the  members 
of  the  Cabildo  was  considered  even  by  the  sus- 
picious priests  as  above  suspicion,  and  their 
guaranty  continued  to  be  observed  among  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  war  and  among  all  the  fluctuations 
of  civil  government. 

Many  noble  men  has  Chile  given  to  the  world, 
but  among  them  all  the  members  of  the  Cabildo 
of  the  city  of  Santiago  in  the  year  1810  must 
forever  occupy  a  distinguished  place  in  her  annals. 
When,  during  the  few  days  that  preceded  the 
18th — the  "Diez"T  ocho" —  of  September,  the  ac- 
cusation was  made  that  the  Cabildo  was  ambitious 
to  extend  its  power  and  that  the  institution  of  the 
Junta  would  afford  them  the  opportunity  to 
gratify  this  ambition,  Don  Agustin  Eyzaguirre, 
the  Alcalde,  did  not  hesitate  to  propose  to  his  as- 
sociates a  self-denying  ordinance  that  vindicates 

1  "Para  el  dia  18  del  cornente,  a  las  nueve  de  la  manana 
espera  a  vd.  el  mui  illustre  Senor  presidente  con  el  illustre 
ayuntamiento  en  las  salas  del  real  consulado  d  consultar  i 
decidir  los  medios  mas  oportunos  a  la  defensa  del  reino  i 
publica  tranquilidad." 


166     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

his  dignity  and  the  unselfishness  of  his  colleagues. 
He  proposed  that  no  member  of  the  Cabildo 
should  occupy  a  seat  in  the  Junta,  and  his  sug- 
gestion was  adopted  unanimously,  without  debate ; 
so  anxious  was  the  Cabildo  to  avert  the  imputa- 
tion of  personal  ambition  and  so  eager  to  convince 
their  countrymen  that  for  the  good  of  Chile  they 
willingly  sacrificed  their  private  interests.  This 
action  placed  upon  the  new  movement  the  stamp 
of  a  high  purpose. 

And  now  came  on  the  great  day — the  day  which 
Chile  has  for  a  century  regarded  as  the  actual 
birthday  of  the  Republic;  a  day  which  is  to  Chile 
what  the  Fourth  of  .July  is  to  the  United  States. 
It  is  true  that  there  was  no  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence,— no  political  creed  to  incite  them  to 
revolution  or  to  justify  them  in  it.  On  the  con- 
trary the  authority  of  the  King  continued  to  be 
nominally  recognized  as  well  by  the  Junta  as  it 
had  formerly  been  by  the  Governor;  but  the  step 
was  taken  which  proved  to  be  the  first  step  on  the 
broad  road  of  liberty — they  decided  upon  their 
form  of  government  and  they  elected  the  officers 
who  should  rule  them.  If  the  significance  of  this 
step  was  to  a  great  part  of  them  obscure,  yet  they 
soon  learned  that  from  that  moment  they  had 
emancipated  themselves  :%om  Spanish  authority, 
and  could  never  again  be  content  to  return  to 
their  former  submission.  The  line  between  sub- 
mission and  independence  was  not  in  the  history 
of  Chile,  a  visible  line,  as  a  ship  may  cross  from 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     167 

one  hemisphere  to  another  without  for  the  moment 
being  conscious  of  the  fact. 

Before  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  militia 
and  the  Spanish  troops  had  occupied  the  necessary 
city  posts  and  were  prepared  to  secure  public 
order;  the  King's  Regiment  guarding  the  plaza; 
the  Frontier  Dragoons,  the  Queen's  Regiment  and 
the  Regiment  of  the  Prince  being  in  double  line  on 
the  streets  debouching  into  the  plaza.  The  Con- 
sulate entrance  was  guarded,  and  the  sentinels 
were  instructed  to  admit  no  one  without  the  card 
of  invitation  issued  by  the  Cabildo. 

At  nine  o'clock  several  hundred  citizens  had 
arrived,  at  eleven  came  the  Governor  attended  by 
his  Asesor  and  Secretary,  Marin  and  Argo- 
medo,  with  the  members  of  the  Cabildo  and  the 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  authorities  of  inferior 
grades.  The  Royal  Audience,  though  invited, 
did  not  appear.  The  Governor  walked  at  once  to 
the  dais  and  turning  about  to  the  assembled  com- 
pany, he  laid  his  baton  or  staff  of  office  on  the 
table  and  said  simply,  "I  lay  down  my  staff.  Dis- 
pose of  it,  for  the  government  is  in  your  hands." 
Argomedo  then  made  a  brief  address  in  which  he 
enumerated  the  Governor's  reasons  for  yielding 
up  his  authority  to  the  people,  and  he  ended  by 
saying, — "The  Governor  has  thus  ceased  to  ex- 
ercise the  functions  of  office;  the  people  must  de- 
cide what  form  of  government  should  be  adopted 
and  elect  the  officers  to  whom  we  shall  confide  the 
direction  of  public  business."  Infante  followed 


168     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Argomedo.1  He  explained  the  condition  of  af- 
fairs in  Spain,  sketched  the  institution  of  the 
various  provincial  Juntas  which  directed  its  iso- 
lated energies,  described  and  justified  the  activity 
of  the  Cabildo  of  Santiago  in  taking  an  unac- 
customed lead  in  the  general  direction  of  political 
affairs,  and  vindicated  the  purposes  of  the  as- 
sembly which  he  was  addressing,  by  the  cita- 
tion of  enactments  and  decrees  which  had  issued 
from  the  Central  Spanish  authority.  He  then 
spoke  in  some  detail  of  the  system  of  organized 
oppression  under  which  the  colony  had  languished 
for  centuries,  and  with  vehement  asperity  con- 
demned the  tardy  recognition  by  the  Junta  Cen- 
tral of  their  equality  to  the  Peninsular  provinces, 
as  an  act  of  belated  justice  whose  only  purpose 
was  to  prolong  the  injustice  that  it  condemned. 
Still,  he  absolved  the  captive  King  of  any  com- 
plicity in  the  array  of  the  Colony's  wrongs,  and 
loudly  and  sincerely  proclaimed  his  devotion  and 
that  of  the  Cabildo  to  Ferdinand  VII. 

Don  Carlos  Correa  arose  when  Infante  had  fin- 
ished and  proposed  that  seven  men  should  be 
elected  to  compose  a  new  government,  to  be  called 
the  Junta  Provisional  Gubernativa.  To  this 
there  was  no  objection  and  Infante  offered  to 
the  assembly,  one  by  one,  the  names  that  the 
Cabildo  had  decided  upon.  They  were  elected 

iWhen  Infante  died,  in  1844,  he  left  among  his  papers 
some  notes  of  his  speech  before  the  Cabildo  Abierto  of 
September  18,  1810. 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     169 

without  opposition,  and  the  new  government  was 
composed  of  Don  Mateo  Toro,  Conde  de  la  Con- 
quista,  President ;  the  Bishop  Don  Jose  Antonio 
Martinez  de  Aldunate,  Vice-President,  and  Don 
Fernando  Marquez  de  la  Plata,  Don  Juan  Mar- 
tinez de  Rozas,  Don  Ignacio  de  Carrera,  Don 
Francisco  Xavier  Reina  and  Don  Juan  Enrique 
Resales.  Marin  and  Argomedo  were  named  as 
Secretaries. 

The  composition  of  the  Junta  is  a  monument  to. 
the  diplomacy  of  Rozas  and  Infante.  All  parties 
were  represented  with  such  sagacity  as  to  secure 
the  success  of  the  movement  while  quieting  every 
scruple  and  conciliating  the  goodwill  and  support 
of  all  classes.  Only  the  Royal  Audience  cherished 
their  animosities.  On  the  19th  of  September  the 
members  of  that  body  were  summoned  to  appear 
and  take  the  necessary  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
government.  Much  to  the  surprise  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Cabildo,  they  came  and  signified  their 
willingness  to  recognize  the  Junta  conditionally 
under  the  protests  that  they  had  already  ad- 
dressed to  the  late  Governor  in  their  official  com- 
munications, their  purpose  plainly  being  to  avoid 
committing  themselves  to  the  recognition  of  the 
Junta  as  a  de  jure  government.  The  Junta, 
however,  refused  such  limited  recognition,  and 
directed  them  to  say  at  once  explicitly  whether  or 
not  they  chose  to  recognize  the  authority  erected 
by  the  people.  Reduced  to  this  alternative,  they 
decided  to  acquiesce  in  the  will  of  the  people  and 


170     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

to  take  their  unqualified  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
Junta,  rather  than  risk  the  loss  of  their  seats  in 
the  Royal  Audience.  Thus  their  great  victory  of 
July  15th  had  prepared  the  way  for  their  igno- 
minious surrender  of  the  19th  of  September. 

Bishop  Aldunate  was  one  of  the  most  eminent 
men  in  South  America  for  his  wealth,  wisdom  and 
generosity.  He  was  living  in  his  diocese  of  Hua- 
manga,  Peru,  in  September,  1810,  and,  resigning 
his  bishopric,  he  hastened  to  Chile,  but  died  before 
he  could  qualify  as  Vice-President.  He  was 
nearly  of  the  same  age  with  the  Conde  de  la  Con- 
quista.  Marquez  de  la  Plata  was  also  far  ad- 
vanced in  years ;  as  Judge  of  the  Royal  Audience 
of  Lima  and  as  Regent  of  the  Audience  of  Quito, 
he  was  well  known  throughout  Spanish  America. 
A  Spaniard  by  birth,  though  for  some  years  a 
resident  of  Chile,  he  had  received,  only  a  short  time 
before,  the  appointment  to  the  Council  of  the 
Indies.  This  office  he  had  resigned  that  he  might 
serve  the  new  Junta  of  Santiago.  During  the 
ensuing  war  with  Spain  and  during  the  dark  days 
of  the  Spanish  occupation,  he  remained  true  to 
the  service  of  his  adopted  state,  and,  after  passing 
some  years  in  exile,  he  returned  to  take  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Chilean  Court  of  Appeals.  Carrera, 
a  Colonel  of  militia,  belonged  like  Aldunate  to 
one  of  the  old  Chilean  families.  True  to  the  revo- 
lution, he  gave  three  sons  to  the  cause  of  liberty 
and  saw  them  die,  victims  of  expediency,  under  the 
dubious  stigma  of  treason.  His  second  son,  Jose 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     171 

Miguel,  was  now  on  his  return  to  Chile,  after  serv- 
ing with  honor  as  an  officer  in  the  Spanish  Penin- 
sular Army.  Young,  aristocratic,  fascinating 
and  successful  (he  has  been  styled  the  Alcibiades 
of  Chile),  Jose  Miguel  seemed  the  favorite  of  for- 
tune ;  yet  his  name  has  spotted  with  blood  the 
darkest  pages  of  Chilean  history,  and  the  tragic 
mystery  of  his  death  on  the  plains  of  Mendoza 
time  has  hitherto  refused  to  divulge. 

Reina  was  the  Colonel  of  Artillery  who  refused 
at  Carrasco's  demand  to  fire  upon  the  people  of 
Santiago  and  whom  Carrasco  covered  with  oppro- 
brium before  the  Royal  Audience.  Carrasco  was 
still  living  in  Santiago  and  must  have  ground  his 
teeth  when  he  saw  Reina's  name  as  a  member  of 
the  Junta.  Resales  was  a  wealthy  Chilean  gentle- 
man, the  head  of  one  of  the  great  Colonial  fam- 
ilies. He  had  been  Alcalde  of  the  Cabildo  some 
years  before  and  had  interested  himself  in  the 
matter  of  public  education. 

Among  them  all  Rozas  was  the  man  of  greatest 
prestige  and  the  real  leader.  Infante,  Argomedo 
and  Eyzaguirre  had  acted  throughout  the  cam- 
paign, that  had  now  so  happily  terminated,  under 
constant  instructions  from  Rozas  in  Concepcion. 
Letters  from  Rozas,  still  extant,  prove  the  extent 
of  his  influence  over  Ovalle  and  Rojas.  They  all 
called  him  "Master";  O'Higgins  revered  him  as 
he  had  revered  Miranda.  Rozas  was  a  statesman 
of  wide  and  generous  views.  Among  the  maxims 
of  political  conduct  which  Miranda  had  given  to 


TO     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

O'Higgins,  on  his  leaving  England,  was  the  advice 
f"to  make  no  man  a  friend  unless  he  found  him  to 
fbe  well-read  in  the  books  that  were  prohibited  in 
Jthe  Index."  This  qualification  for  political  friend- 
ship Rozas  possessed ;  his  mind  was  unhampered 
by  formulas  or  traditions.  He  caused  the  spirit  ' 
of  the  Cabildo,  which  was  also  his  own,  to  imbue 
the  new  government,  for  although  the  passage  by 
the  Cabildo  of  the  self-denying  ordinance  pre- 
;  vented  the  members  of  that  body  from  participat- 
ing openly  in  the  management  of  the  Junta,  they 
did  not  for  that  reason  lose  any  portion  of  their 
influence  in  the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  the  new 
nation.  The  pure  flame  of  disinterested  patriot- 
ism had  burnt  all  selfish  dross  from  their  souls, 
but  their  very  abnegation  of  self  increased  their 
power.  They  had  projected  and  established  the 
Junta,  they  had  named  its  members,  and  they  con- 
tinued to  direct  its  energies.  They  worked  in  per- 
fect agreement  with  Rozas.  They  formed  in  fact 
the  legislative  branch  of  the  new  government. 
Their  decisions  were  accepted  by  the  Junta  and 
being  promulgated  as  such,  were  obeyed  through- 
out the  Republic  without  demur.  The  one  man 
who  by  his  overpowering  influence  controlled  the 
Junta,  was  the  man  to  whom  the  Cabildo  had  con- 
fided the  real  conduct  of  the  State,  Juan  Martinez 
de  Rozas. 

"The  new  government,"  says  Tocornal,  "repre- 

I      sented  all  the  interests   of  the  country  and  con- 

cilated   all    opinions.     The   President   was   wisely 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE     173 

continued  in  office  that  no  intention  might  appear 
of  disturbing  the  authority  of  Spain ;  the  clergy 
obtained  recognition  in  the  highest  clerical  func- 
tionary of  the  Colony ;  the  most  illustrious  Span- 
iard of  peninsular  birth  in  Chile,  Marquez  de  la 
Plata,  recently  elected  a  member  of  the  Council 
of  the  Indies,  served  as  an  additional  guaranty  of 
loyalty  to  Spain ;  Carrera  and  Resales  represented 
the  wealth  and  pride  of  Santiago;  Colonel  Reina 
continued  in  command  of  the  army ;  Rozas,  Marin 
and  Argomedo  personified  the  Revolution,  and 
Rozas  was  expected  to  dominate  the  Junta." 


PART  IV 
THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

TO  RANCAGUA 

"No  permitais  que  jamas  se  apodere  de 
vuestro  animo  ni  el  disgusto  ni  la  desespera- 
cion,  pues  si  alguna  vez  dais  entrada  a  estos 
sentimientos,  os  pondreis  en  la  impotencia  de 
servir  a  vuestra  patria. 

"MIRANDA  to  O'HiGGiNs." 

"Let  not  disgust  or  despondency  enter 
your  soul,  for  they  will  unfit  you  for  your 
country's  service." 

.        The  Revolution,  thus  inaugurated  in  Chile  on 
the  18th  of  September,  1810,  was  the  work  of  the 
(t5abildo^bf  Santiago  alone,  and,  realizing  the  ne-    / 


cessTEy  of  united  action,  the  Junta  at  once  pro- 
ceeded to  send  envoys  to  all  the  cities  and  towns 
throughout  the  country  to  secure  their  formal  ad- 
herence to  the  cause.  Valdivieso  was  sent  to  Santa 
Rosa,  San  Felipe  and  Quillota;  Irarrazabal  to  II- 
lapel,  Solar  to  Coquimbo,  Errazuriz  to  Valparaiso 
and  Jose  Maria  Rozas  and  Cruz  to  San  Fernando, 
Talca  and  the  other  centres  of  population  as  far 
south  as  Concepcion  and  Valdivia.  By  the  £9th 
of  October  every  city  in  Chile  had  recognized  the 
Junta  of  Santiago  as  the  governing  body  of  the 

177 


178   THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

country.  No  word  was  yet  uttered  openly  of  lib- 
erty and  independence,  the  new  Junta  proposing 
merely,  "to  conserve  the  rights  of  the  King  dur- 
ing his  captivity."  On  the  30th  of  October  Don 
Juan  Martinez  de  Rozas  arrived  in  Santiago  from 
Concepcion,  and  was  enthusiastically  wekjomed  as 
the  man  who  should  direct  the  new  government  of 
the  nation. 

In  fact  Rozas  was  the  only  member  of  the  Junta 
of  1810  who  thoroughly  understood  the  signif- 
icance of  the  new  movement.  He  alone  had  a 
definite  purpose  to  attain,  and  he  determined  to 
justify  to  the  people  of  Chile  the  necessity  of  a 
complete  change  in  the  system  of  government  be- 
fore disclosing  to  them  the  fact  that!  such  a  change 
was  contemplated.  Having  long  considered  the 
evils  of  the  Spanish  dominion,  he  decided  to  take 
the  necessary  steps  to  convince  the  people  of  the 
superiority  of  a  wise  and  just  administration  of 
public  affairs,  that  they  might  themselves  make 
the  discovery  of  the  advantages  that  the  new  gov- 
ernment procured  for  them,  and  experience  the 
benefits  of  the  revolution. 

The  first  enactment  of  the  Junta  was  to  sup- 
press the  custom  of  farming  out  the  public  rev- 
enues, taxes,  excise  and  imposts  of  various  kinds, 
— by  which  the  subdelegates  had  oppressed  the 
people  and  enriched  themselves;  and  to  appoint 
the  Alcaldes  as  Collectors  of  Revenue,  under  a 
fixed  system,  which  relieved  the  people  from  arbi- 
trary exactions  and  added  at  once  and  continu- 


BEGINNING  OF  INDEPENDENCE   179 

ously  to  the  effective  revenue  of  the  state.  The 
sale  of  offices  was  then;  ordered  toj^di 
and  the~impartial  administration  of  the  Junta 
placet  the  ini^ui lu us  expioitatioris"of  offtce-^or 
dividual-enrichment: — Slavery  was  abolished,  the 
extension  of;  commerce  decreed  and  its  restrictions 
diminished,  and  schools  of  elementary  instruction 
were  established  in  every  centre  of  population, 
while  a  powder  factory  was  built  and  a  military 
school  equipped  in  the  Capital.  The  system  of 
royal  monopolies  was  abolished  and  those  re- 
strictions removed  that  had  prevented  immigra- 
tion and  discouraged  agriculture. 

With  the  inauguration,  of  these,  reforms,  a  gen- 
eral enthusiasm  for  the  Junta  began  to  pervade  the 
whole  country  and  the  admiration  for  the  new  gov- 
ernment was  almost  universal.  So  generally  had 
popular  favor  been  conciliated,  that  Rozas  ven- 
tured upon  a  decree  that  might  well  have  seemed 
hazardous  to  the  point  of  temerity,  but  Rozas 
enforced  his  will  upon  his  colleagues  and  the  decree 
was  issued  that  all  residents  of  Chile,  who  were 
of  Spanish  birth  and  who  refused  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  Junta,  should  be  required  to 
leave  the  country  within  six  months.  If  Balles- 
teros's  sense  of  humor  had  not  been  defective,  he 
would  have  derived  much  pleasure  from  the  de- 
crees of  a  Junta  that  endeavored  to  defend  the 
country  from  the  very  power  to  which  it  vowed 
allegiance,  and  which  followed  up  this  inconsist- 
ency by  expelling  from  its  tributary  soil  the  sub- 


180     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 


« 


jects  of  the  monarch  from  whose  name  it  derived 
its  own  authority ;  but  it  was  not  Rozas  who  was 
inconsistent.  Indeed  there  was  a  grim  logic  in  the 
measures  that  he  took  to  prepare  the  country  for 
the  war  that  was  sure  to  come.  A  league  was 
formed  with  Buenos  Ayres,  the  frontier  regiments 
were  purged  of  royalists  and  those  officers  who 
refused  their  allegiance  to  the  Junta,  dismissed. 
With  admirable  diplomacy,  Rozas  had  contrived 
to  carry  his  colleagues  along  with  him  until  they 
were  compromised  beyond  all  hope  of  absolution, 
without  perceiving  that  their  steps  had  strayed 
from  the  narrow  path  of  loyalty  to  Ferdinand. 
"Allegiance  to  the  Junta"  was  the  formula  under 
which  these  changes  were  accomplished,  and  the 
Junta  proclaimed  its  allegiance  to  the  King. 
Moreover,  its  members  were  conscious  of  their 
own  loyalty,  and  they  thought  that  they  consti- 
tuted the  Junta.  Meanwhile  every  decree  of  the 
Junta  brought  out  in  sharper  relief  the  inequity 
of  the  Peninsular  administration  and  educated  the 
people  in  the  way  of  progress.  Rozas  was  care- 
ful not  to  emphasize  his  supremacy  in  the  Junta, 
and  concealed  his  purpose  by  a  scrupulous  defer- 
ence to  his  colleagues,  while  he  effected  an  im- 
mense change  in  the  popular  sentiment  of  Chile 
toward  Spain.  The  officers  of  the  Spanish  forces 
in  Chile,  having  confidence  in  the  Junta,  easily  for 
the  most  part  took  the  required  oath,  and  the  sol- 
diers followed  the  example  thus  set  for  them. 
Moreover,  as  the  garrisons  of  the  south  had  been 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     181 

almost  entirely  recruited  in  Chile,  their  sympathies 
could  be  relied  on  to  hold  them  firm  to  the  cause 
of  their  country  when  the  progress  of  events 
should  disclose  the  actual  separation  of  the  colony 
from  the  metropolis,  which  Rozas  was  so  rapidly 
and  yet  so  imperceptibly  effecting. 

New  levies  were  also  quietly  made.  Don  Ber- 
nardo O'Higgins  wrote  to  Rozas  from  the  Laja 
that  he  had  recruited  and  was  proceeding  to  equip 
two  regiments  of  cavalry  and  one  of  infantry, 
while  the  adherents  or  agents  of  Rozas  in  every 
section  of  Chile  were  actively  engaged  in  prose- 
cuting similar  activities.  ColoneJMVlax^mi%-4he 
best  artillery  engineer  in  the  Spanish  service,  who 
understood  the  purposes  of  Rozas  and  furthered 
them  with  admirable  energy  and  reticence,  was 
appointed  Governor  of  Valparaiso,  whose  defenses 
and  garrison  he  quickly  brought  into  serviceable 
condition.  Everywhere  there  was  activity  and 
energy ;  the  barracks  and  public  squares  hummed 
with  the  excitement  of  drilling  the  new  levies,  whose 
recruits  worked  with  enthusiasm  to  perfect  them- 
selves in  the  art.  of  war,  while  each  day  brought 
to  the  Capital  the  news  of  other  adherents  and  the 
muster  roll  of  additional  companies  and  battalions. 

Thus  there  suddenly  came  into  existence  a  new 
sentiment  in  the  kingdom  of  Chile,  no  longer  to  be 
called  by  that  strange  title — a  kingdom  that  had 
never  had  a  king, — but  to  be  henceforth  known  as 
the  Republic  of  Chile,  a  new  sentiment,  love  of 
country,  and  a  passionate  devotion  to  her  interests 


188     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

that  rivals  the  ancient  patriotism  of  Aragon,  Switz- 
erland and  Scotland.  Never  could  she  return  to 
the  condition  of  a  Colony ;  never  for  a  moment, 
after  the  first  deep  draught  of  liberty  and  glory  on 
the  18th  of  September,  could  she  have  endured 
contentedly  the  rule  of  even  the  best  of  her  old 
Colonial  governors.  Wisely  and  with  a  correct 
insight  into  the  causes  of  events,  does  Chile  look 
back  to  that  day  as  the  greatest  day  in  her 
history.  Sad  and  bitter  days  were  in  store  for 
her, — days  of  defeat,  humiliation,  reconquest; 
when  Ossorio  and  Marco  renewed  on  Chilean 
soil  the  atrocities  of  Abascal  in  Peru,  and  antici- 
pated those  of  Morillo  in  Venezuela,  and  of  Calleja 
in  Mexico,  and  when  the  inexperience  of  the  Chilean 
generals  and  the  interplay  of  their  selfish  ambi- 
tions invited  disaster  and  encouraged  treason. 
But  Chile  was  rapidly  learning  the  lesson  of  the 
18th  of  September  as  it  gradually  unfolded  its  pur- 
pose of  good  government,  and  with  the  innate 
seriousness  and  stability  of  the  Chilean  character, 
was  fitting  herself  to  withstand  rudely  the  bitter 
assaults  of  Spain.  This  was  the  work  that  Rozas 
accomplished  for  his  country,  and  so  great  was  his 
L  adroitness  that  the  other  members  of  the  Junta 
yielded  to  his  initiative  without  any  suspicion  of 
the  purpose  that  animated  him  and  which  he  was 
with  their  unconscious  cooperation,  steadfastly 
pursuing.  So  skilfully  had  he  concealed  the  pur- 
pose of  his  reforms  under  the  proclamation  of  al- 
legiance, that  on  December  14,  1810,  the  Spanish 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     183 

Ambassador  in  Brazil,  the  Marquis  de  Casa  Irujo, 
wrote  to  the  Chilean  Junta  "congratulating  the 
new  government  on  its  patriotism,  prudence  and 
wisdom." 

That  Rozas  was  not  a  mere  opportunist  but  a 
statesman  of  large  views,  is  proved  by  his  project 
for  the  formation  of  an  International  American 
Congress  or  Congress  of  American  Republics, 
which,  suggested  by  him  in  1810,  was  embodied  in 
the  project  of  a  Constitution  unfolded  by  Don 
Juan  Egana  in  1811.  The  purpose  of  this  Gen- 
eral American  Congress  was  "to  recognize  the 
identity,  promote  the  progress,  and  secure  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  general  interest  of  the  American 
Republics,  thereby  providing  a  unity  of  purpose 
and  a  uniformity  of  development  among  them." 
The  Rozas  Doctrine  was  thus  enunciated  thirteen 
years  before  that  which  John  Quincy  Adams  wrote 
for  President  Monroe.  It  proposed  a  political 
concert  of  independent  states  whose  united  actiofc 
might  guarantee  exactly  the  same  rights  which  tl^e 
Monroe  Doctrine  entrusted  to  the  protectoral  pres- 
tige of  the  United  States  of  America.  While  the 
Rozas  doctrine  was  less  altruistic  and  perhaps  less 
practicable  than  that  of  Monroe,  there  was  omitted 
from  it  that  suspicious  assumption  of  superiority 
on  the  part  of  any  individual  nation  which  has  un- 
necessarily aroused  misgivings  on  the  part  of  some 
American  States  as  to  the  exact  scope  of  Monroe's 
famous  dictum.  Fifteen  years  after  Egana  had 
formulated  the  doctrine  of  Rozas  and  three  years 


184     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

after  that  of  Monroe  was  announced,  a  Congress  of 
American  States  met  at  Panama ;  but  even  in  1826, 
the  South  American  nations  suspected  the  inten- 
tions of  the  United  States  and  dreaded  her  power, 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  announcement  of  the 
appointment  of  Anderson  and  Sergeant  as  Rep- 
resentatives of  the  United  States  to  that  Congress, 
was  of  itself  sufficient  to  break  up  the  Congress 
before  it  had  fully  considered  the  manner  in  which 
the  threatened  pretensions  of  Spain  might  be  ef- 
fectively resisted.  To-day  the  danger  from  Spain 
has  passed  away  forever,  but  perhaps  in  the  near 
future  the  Doctrine  of  Rozas  may  be  again  re- 
vived to  prevent  the  descent  of  the  militant  hordes 
of  a  new  Genghis  Khan  upon  the  defenseless  shores 
of  Peru  or  San  Salvador. 

Such  are  the  claims  to  the  gratitude  of  Chile 
which  Rozas  established  during  the  purely  tenta- 
tive and  conditional  government  of  the  provincial 
Junta.  The  Cabildo  at  first  actively  seconded  his 
efforts,  and  it  is  impossible  to-day  to  assign  to 
Infante,  Eyzaguirre  and  Errazuriz  their  due  credit 
in  all  these  innovations,  so  profound  was  their  per- 
sonal immersion  in  the  development  of  the  social 
and  political  regeneration  of  their  country. 

Rozas'  colleagues  in  the  Junta  were  content  with 
the  social  consideration  that  their  positions  se- 
cured to  them  and  were  perfectly  willing  to  let 
Rozas  project  and  establish  whatever  reforms  he 
deemed  essential,  so  long  as  they  shared  the  glory 
of  his  achievements.  The  Vice-President,  Bishop 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     185 

Aldunate,  died  during  the  early  period  of  the 
Junta,  but  the  President,  the  Conde  de  la  Con- 
quista,  came  punctually  to  all  the  meetings  of  the 
Junta  and  slept  tranquilly  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end.  When  he  did  awake  for  a  moment  during 
the  sessions,  it  was  to  complain  that  no  attention 
was  paid  to  his  suggestions  and  then  drop  asleep 
again.  He  was  old  and  querulous,  and  on  the  26th 
of  February,  1811,  he  passed  suddenly  away,  with- 
out realizing  for  a  moment  the  great  changes  that 
were  taking  place  in  the  country  which  he  thought 
he  still  governed,  and  in  whose  annals  his  death  is 
recorded  as  an  obscure  incident. 

Early  in  1811,  Camilo  Henriquez  returned  to 
Chile,  having  escaped  from  the  dungeons  of  the 
Holy  Office,  where  he  had  been  immured  for  his 
liberal  and  revolutionary  utterances,  and  whence 
he  drew  a  profound  hatred  of  the  power  that 
sought  to  enslave  the  consciences  of  men.  It  is 
probable  that  Rozas  invited  him  to  return,  that  he 
might  become  the  apostle  of  liberty  and  independ- 
ence, and  propagate  as  an  individual  those  great 
ideas  which  the  country  was  now  ready  to  receive, 
but  which  Rozas  could  not  himself  directly  incul- 
cate without  destroying  his  authority  with  the 
Junta.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  from  reading  the 
files  of  the  Aurora  in  the  National  Library  at  San- 
tiago, how  such  utterances  could  have  aroused  the 
Chilean  spirit  to  so  lofty  a  pitch  of  enthusiasm, 
but  the  fact  is  undeniable  and  illustrates  the  power 
of  the  living  word.  Camilo  Henriquez,  unfrocked, 


186     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

excommunicated,  disgraced,  was  a  brilliant  and 
beneficent  power  in  the  early  history  of  Chilean 
independence.  He  was  the  pioneer  of  patriotism 
in  Chile. 

Thus  the  months  passed;  Summer  came  and 
withered  into  Autumn  and  the  1st  of  April  was  at 
hand,  when  the  Junta  had  proclaimed  that  the  elec- 
tion should  take  place  of  members  to  the  Con- 
gress. But  while  the  Junta  was  submissive  and  the 
people  happy  and  the  country  prosperous,  there 
were  yet  many  persons  in  Chile  who  resented  the 
altered  spirit  of  the  country,  and  who  saw  with  re- 
gret the  cause  of  the  captive  King  neglected. 
Carrasco  was  still  living  in  Santiago,  the  recipient 
of  a  pension  from  the  Junta,  and  the  Royal  Audi- 
ence still  held  in  nominal  control  the  supervision 
of  justice,  but  they  were  filled  with  resentment  and 
cherished  the  hope  of  vengeance  for  the  affronts 
that  had  humiliated  them.  To  these  grew  the 
farmers  of  the  royal  revenue  and  the  agents  of 
the  former  royal  monopolies,  as  well  as  the  mer- 
chants and  ancient  officials  of  the  earlier  regime 
who  were  of  Spanish  birth  or  of  royalist  sympa- 
thies, until  they  had  become  a  compact  body  of  dis- 
sent and  disaffection,  inflamed  with  animosity  and 
eager  for  action.  They  tampered  with  Colonel 
Reina,  a  member  of  the  Junta,  they  tempted  the 
former  military  governor  of  Valparaiso,  our  old 
friend  Joaquin  Alos,  they  seduced  Colonel  Fig- 
ueroa,  who  commanded  the  Dragoons  stationed  in 
the  Capital. 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     187 

In  the  circular  for  the  convocation  of  the  Na- 
tional Congress  which  issued  at  the  end  of  March 
and  appointed  the  1st  of  April  for  the  election,  / 
the  Junta  recognized  the  provisional  character  of 
its  authority,  and  announced  that  with  the  election 
of  representatives,  the  functions  of  the  Junta 
would  immediately  cease,  and  that  the  Congress 
must  determine  how  the  country  should  be  ruled 
in  the  future.  The  election  of  members  to  the 
Congress  seemed  to  the  royalists  a  suitable  occa- 
sion to  reassert  the  authority  of  the  King,  and  the 
demission  of  the  Junta  a  suitable  opportunity  to 
regain  the  control  as  it  fell  from  the  hand  of 
Rozas  and  before  it  could  be  seized  by  the  Con- 
gress. The  first  of  April,  then,  was  the  date  set 
for  the  counter-revolution,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
election  and  to  put  an  immediate  end  to  the  revo- 
lutionary innovations  of  this  irregular  but  power- 
ful Junta.  Colonel  Figueroa,  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  Royal  Audience,  had  manoeuvered  to  obtain  for 
his  dragoons  the  honor  of  guarding  the  Consulate 
during  the  election  and  his  request  had  been  form- 
ally granted.  Early  in  the  morning  of  the  first 
of  April,  Colonel  Figueroa  marched  his  dismounted 
dragoons  down  the  Calle  Catedral  and  formed 
them  in  the  Plaza,  while  he  himself  passed  on  to 
the  Hall  of  the  Royal  Audience.  The  Court  was 
in  session  when  Figueroa  entered,  and  saluting 
them  he  addressed  Ballesteros,  "My  arms  support 
the  religion,  the  King  and  the  old  regime." 

"Hush!"   said  Ballesteros,   "There  is  no  need 


188     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

for  you  to  come  here.  Your  work  is  in  the  plaza. 
Go  there  immediately  and  do  your  duty,  and  be 
sure  that  no  one  sees  you  leave  this  Hall." 

At  once  on  the  departure  of  their  unwelcome 
guest,  Ballesteros  wrote  a  note  to  Rozas  warning 
him  of  the  attempt  of  Figueroa,  and  gave  the  note 
to  the  messenger  of  the  Audience  with  instruc- 
tions to  deliver  it  the  following  day. 

But  Rozas  was  already  warned,  and  when  Colonel 
Figueroa  returned  to  the  plaza,  he  found  a  de- 
tachment of  troops  under  Comandante  Vial  drawn 
up  opposite  his  own  men.  Vial  had  just  finished 
an  allocution  to  the  dragoons  as  their  commander 
came  up.  Fortunately  for  Vial,  Figueroa  was 
ignorant  of  the  liberty  that  his  inferior  had  taken, 
nor  did  he  see  the  look  of  hesitation  and  distrust 
on  the  faces  of  the  dragoons.  He  at  once  ad- 
vanced and  attempted  to  incorporate  the  new  men 
into  his  own  troop,  claiming  superiority  of  com- 
mand over  Vial.  Vial  resisted  the  claim,  alleging 
the  explicit  direction  of  the  Junta,  and  a  hot  dis- 
cussion began  between  the  two  officers,  when  a 
sergeant  in  Vial's  company  fired  his  pistol  in  the 
air.  An  irregular  discharge  followed,  and  sev- 
eral soldiers  and  one  or  two  bystanders  fell.  At 
once  confusion  ensued,  shouts  of  foul  play  arose, 
and  the  dragoons  took  the  opportunity  to  disperse 
and  disappear.  Their  Colonel,  finding  himself 
alone,  exclaimed,  "I  am  lost!  They  have  deceived 
me,"  and  ran  across  the  plaza  and  disappeared. 

Anticipating  this  outcome,  Rozas  himself  now 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     189 

appeared  with  a  squad  of  soldiers  in  the  plaza,  \ 
and  directing  Vial  to  hold  his  troops  in  readiness, 
he  followed  swiftly  on  Colonel  Figueroa's  track  and  J 
entered  the  Convent  of  Santo  Domingo  a  few  min- 
utes after  the  fugitive  had  disappeared  therein. 
Guards  were  stationed  at  the  gates  and  a  careful 
search  of  the  Convent  was  begun  under  the  guid- 
ance of  Father  Gonzales.  All  was  in  vain.  Every 
corner  was  examined  and  Figueroa  was  not  to  be 
found,  when  suddenly  a  chance  gust  of  wind  from 
an  opening  door  disarranged  the  priestly  robe  of 
Father  Gonzalez,  and,  on  Rozas  ordering  him  to 
be  stripped,  Colonel  Figueroa  stood  revealed.  He 
was  led  at  once  to  the  Junta  and  interrogated,  but 
he  refused  to  throw  the  least  light  upon  the  motive 
or  the  extent  of  the  conspiracy,  denied  the  complic- 
ity of  the  Royal  Audience  and  abjured  the  words 
he  was  heard  to  utter  in  the  plaza.  He  was  shot  the  \ 
next  morning  at  four  o'clock.  From  subsequent  i 
revelations  it  was  learned  that  the  object  of  the 
conspiracy  was  to  replace  Don  Francisco  Antonio 
Garcia  Carrasco  in  the  Governor's  chair,  and  to 
reinstate  the  Royal  Audience  in  its  former  author- 
ity. The  Royal  Audience  was  immediately  dis- 
solved in  disgrace  and  Carrasco  was  summarily  ex- 
pelled from  Chilean  soil.  This  fiasco  was  a  fitting 
pendant  to  his  course  as  Governor,  and  rounds  out 
his  Chilean  career  with  a  kind  of  romantic  justice. 
The  conspiracy  of  the  first  of  April  has  the  further 
interest  for  us  in  that  when  the  news  reached 
Curico,  Don  Bernardo  O'Higgins,  then  Lieutenant 


190     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Colonel  of  Militia,  set  out  at  once  for  the  Capital, 
where  he  arrived  on  the  9th  inst.,  and  without 
changing  his  riding  clothes,  strode  puffing  before 
the  Junta  and  offered  them  his  sword. 

On  May  6th  was  held  the  election  of  representa- 
tives in  the  city  of  Santiago  which  had  been  inter- 
trupted  by  the  conspiracy  of  the  1st  of  April,  and 
on  the  4th  of  July  the  National  Congress  began 
its  sessions  in  the  Capital.  During  the  past  few 
months  there  had  been  a  growing  estrangement 
i  between  Rozas  and  the  Cabildo  of  Santiago.  While 

:  his  authority  in  the  Junta  was  become  practically 
absolute,  the  Cabildo  was  watching  with  more  and 
more  disquietude  the  development  of  his  power. 
There  had  always  existed  in  the  Municipal  govern- 
ment  a  feeling  that  the  time  was  not  yet  come  for 
the  final  break  with  Spain.  The  Cabildo  had  al- 
ways been  a  conservative  body,  .being  composed 
of  representatives  of  the  aristocracy,  who  had 
their  titles  and  their  wealth  and  their  social  posi- 
tion to  consider  in  any  event  that  might  befall 
the  country.  These  men,  led  by  Eyzaguirre,  were 
anxious  not  to  compromise  their  country  to  such 
a  degree  that  the  restoration  of  Ferdinand  might 
ensure  its  utter  ruin.  They  followed  Rozas  in  his 
developing  projects  of  social  improvement,  but 
they  feared  that  he  might  lead  them  too  far  and 
they  gradually  grew  to  distrust  him.  When 
Camilo  Henrfquez  began  his  propaganda  for  lib- 

-  erty  and  independence,  they  complained  to  Rozas 
that  Henriquez  was  threatening  the  peace  and  the 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     191 

future  of  the  country.  They  were  dissatisfied 
with  Rozas'  reply  and  suspected  that  Rozas  him- 
self sympathized  with  and  perhaps  indirectly  as- 
sisted the  campaign  of  the  ex-priest.  Rozas  in 
turn  began  to  neglect  the  Cabildo,  and,  in  the 
confidence  of  his  power,  spoke  slightingly  of  some 
of  its  members.  After  the  incident  of  the  1st  of 
April,  this  tension  increased,  and  the  aristocracy  , 
of  Santiago,  taking  part  with  the  Cabildo,  began 
to  complain  openly  that  this  lawyer  from  Con- 
cepcion  should  venture  to  usurp  all  the  powers 
of  the  government  and  to  override  the  Cabildo 
which  had  named  him.  Thus  came  about  the  dis- 
tinct separation  of  the  Exaltados  from  the  Moder- 
ados.  It  is  probable,  nevertheless,  that  if  the 
election  had  been  held  on  April  first,  Rozas  might 
have  obtained  a  majority  of  the  representatives, 
but  during  the  following  weeks  Eyzaguirre  and 
his  followers  bethought  them  of  a  scheme  whereby 
they  might  assure  to  themselves  the  control  of  the 
Congress,  by  arbitrarily  electing  for  the  city  an 
unlawful  number  of  representatives.  The  decree 
of  convocation  had  appointed  to  each  district  the 
number  of  its  representatives,  but  now,  while  con- 
ceding the  appointment  for  each  of  the  other  dis- 
tricts, the  Cabildo  announced  that  the  Capital 
should  have  twelve  members  instead  of  six.  They 
exerted  their  influence  in  the  other  congressional 
districts  also,  and  when  the  Congress  convened  it 
soon  appeared  that  among  the  thirty-four  dele- 
gates, thirteen  only  could  be  relied  upon  to  follow 


192     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Rozas  and  his  Exaltados,  while  among  the  ma- 
jority were  several  of  Spanish  birth  and  openly 
royalist  prejudices.  For  some  time  there  was  no 
test  of  strength.  The  9th  of  August  was  the 
date  decided  upon  for  the  election  of  the  new 
Junta,  and  the  intervening  time  was  pleasantly 
spent  in  making  speeches,  in  discussing  Penin- 
;  sular  events,  and  in  listening  to  impracticable  pro- 
jects  for  a  constitution  for  the  country.  Rozas 
indeed  took  a  part  in  these  exercises,  for  he  had 
the  greatest  learning  and  the  readiest  wit  among 
,them  all,  but  O'Higgins  sat  in  gloomy  silence. 
One  day  there  suddenly  burst  upon  this  debating 
society  a  real  question  to  decide.  There  had  col- 
lected from  the  rents  of  the  Crown  the  sum  of  one 
million  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  gold  in 
the  Royal  Treasury  in  Santiago,  and  on  the  £5th 
of  July,  a  vessel  anchored  in  Valparaiso  with  cre- 
dentials from  the  Supreme  Council  of  Regency, 
empowering  the  Captain  to  collect  all  the  funds 
which  had  accumulated  in  the  Colonial  treasuries. 
The  Congress  voted  to  send  the  money  down  to 
the  port  at  once  in  obedience  to  the  ancient  cus- 
tom. Only  the  thirteen  radicals  opposed  it,  and 
their  voice  was  ineffectual  until  O'Higgins  started 
to  his  feet  and  thundered  out,  "Although  we  are 
in  the  minority,  we  will  know  how  to  supply  our 
numerical  inferiority  with  our  energy  and  bold- 
ness, and  we  will  not  lack  hands  to  prevent  the  loss 
of  this  sum  of  money  so  necessary  to  our  country 
at  this  time."  Whether  the  Congress  was  intimi- 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     193 

dated  by  his  boldness  or  shamed  by  his  words,  the 
vessel  was  permitted  to  sail  without  the  Chilean 
funds,  an_d  O'Higgins  won  his  first  public  victory. 
This  was  the  only  intrusion  upon  the  somnolent 
sessions;  of  the  Congress  until  the  approach  of  the 
9th  of  August. 

Rozas  was  too  expert  a  politician  to  mistake 
his  position  in  the  Congress.  It  was  in  vain  that 
he  had  expostulated  against  the  admission  of  the 
irregularly  elected  delegates  from  the  Capital,  he 
was  defeated  by  a  compact  maj  ority ;  it  was  in 
vain  that  he  privately  and  publicly  had  employed 
the  voice  of  reason  and  of  wisdom  to  break  this 
disheartening  majority,  he  could  not  reduce  the 
number  of  the  opposition  by  the  defection  of  a 
single  member.  In  pursuance  of  a  further  ex- 
pedient, he  had  contrived  the  nomination  of  Com- 
andante  Vial  to  the  command  of  the  city  troops, 
but  as  soon  as  it  became  known  that  he  was  in- 
terested in  this  appointment,  the  Congress  at -once 
withdrew  the  command  from  Vial  and  commis- 
sioned Colonel  Reina  in  his  place.  Rozas  made  up 
his  mind  to  do  without  Vial,  and  on  the  night  of 
the  8th  of  August  an  attempt  was  made  to  oc- 
cupy the  artillery  quarters  and  effect  a  coup 
d'etat,  which  should  reinstate  him  in  his  inter- 
rupted office,  but  Colonel  Reina  had  anticipated  the 
attempt  and  it  was  immediately  frustrated  by  his 
vigilance.  No  hope  was  now  left  to  the  Exalt- 
ados ;  they  withdrew  from  the  sessions  of  the  Con- 
gress and  on  the  13th  Rozas  left  Santiago  to  re- 


194     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

turn  to  Concepcion,  abandoning  the  country  to  the 
divided  councils  and  varied  impulses  of  a  vain 
and  incompetent  Junta,  composed  of  Martin  Calvo 
Encalada,  Juan  Jose  Aldunate  and  Francisco 
Javier  del  Solar,  representing  the  three  provinces 
of  Santiago,  Coquimbo  and  Concepcion.  There 
was  nothing  in  fact  that  Rozas  could  any  longer 
do  in  the  Capital.  The  Congress  had  so  tied  the 
hands  of  the  new  Junta,  lest  any  individual 
should  assume  the  undisputed  authority  which 
Rozas  had  attained  in  the  provisional  Junta,  that 
even  the  ordinary  process  of  executive  authority 
was  withdrawn  from  the  Junta  and  exercised  by 
the  Congress,  which  entered  upon  a  continuous 
and  unrestricted  control  of  administration  as  well 
as  of  legislation,  and  reduced  the  Junta  to  a  con- 
dition where  it  could  not  command  even  general 
respect. 

The  withdrawal  of  Rozas  thus  involved  the  dis- 
appointment and  perhaps  the  extinction  of  the 
general  aspiration  for  immediate  independence. 
There  could  be  as  yet  no  such  thing  in  Santiago 
society  as  the  determined  expression  of  a  consist- 
ent public  sentiment,  to  which  Rozas  might  ap- 
peal and  which  could  effectively  coerce  the  mod- 
erate leaders  in  the  Congress ;  neither  party  made 
the  slightest  attempt  to  influence  the  people  as  a 
mass.  Eyzaguirre  did  not  appeal  to  them  for 
support  nor  Rozas  for  vindication.  When  the 
citizens  were  dressed  alike  and  carried  muskets 
and  kept  step  and  were  called  soldiers,  they  as- 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     195 

sumed  a  position  of  consequence  in  the  State,  but 
no  one  had  the  least  respect  for  their  opinion  as 
a  mere  many-headed  multitude ;  nor  was  there  as 
yet  among1  them  a  due  estimate  of  their  own  value, 
for  they  had  not  learned  their  power.  With  the 
departure  of  Rozas,  then,  the  best  head  in  Chile 
was  removed  from  the  national  councils  and  the 
hearts  of  his  patriotic  followers  were  submerged  in 
gloom  and  despondency. 

The  English  vessel,  the  Standard,  which  cast 
anchor  in  the  road  of  Valparaiso  on  the  25th  of 
July,  bringing  from  the  Supreme  Council  of 
Regency  the  demand  for  the  money  in  the  King's 
treasury,  brought  also  to  the  Chilean  shores  a 
young  officer  who  had  served  with  distinction  in 
the  Peninsular  war  under  the  Duke  of  Albuquerque 
among  the  Spanish  allies  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton; and  on  the  next  day  when  Don  Bernardo 
O'Higgins  was  winning  an  unexpected  victory  in 
the  Congress,  Don  Jose  Miguel  Carrera  was  lis- 
tening breathlessly  to  the  narrative  of  his  father, 
Don  Ignacio  de  la  Carrera,  and  was  learning  the 
history  of  the  events  which  had  changed  Chile 
from  submission  to  insurrection.  Jose  Miguel 
Carrera,  after  a  wild  and  stormy  youth,  had  been 
sent  to  Lima  to  escape  the  penalties  of  his  mis- 
deeds in  Chile  and,  after  an  unprofitable  residence 
in  the  City  of  the  Kings,  had  made  his  way  to 
Spain,  where  he  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  Major 
of  Hussars  in  the  Spanish  army.  He  was  only 
twenty-six  years  old,  but  he  had  seen  more  active 


196     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

service  in  war  than  any  other  Chilean.  He  was  of 
t-^  an  overpowering  ambition  and  not  without  the 
illness  should  attend  it. 

He  possessed  an  engaging  personality,  he  was 
elegant  and  affable,  with  the  prestige  of  social 
position,  family  wealth,  and  a  record  of  bravery 
and  conduct  in  the  armies  of  Spain.  It  is  proba- 
ble that  his  military  experiences  lost  nothing  in  his 
narration  of  them,  and  he  immediately  became  the 
hero  of  the  army  and  the  lion  of  society.  If  he 
had  tempered  his  ambition  with  true  patriotism, 
if  he  had  possessed  political  honor  and  personal 
integrity,  he  might  have  won  a  very  high  place 
in  the  history  of  South  America.  The  sagacious 
statesmanship  of  Rozas  was  above  his  conception, 
and  the  modest  patriotism  of  O'Higgins  was  be- 
yond his  attainment  and  perhaps  beyond  his  sym- 
pathy. He  sowed  envy  and  he  reaped  hatred,  his 
career  began  in  treachery  and  ended  in  destruc- 
tion. 

But  Rozas  did  not  return  to  Concepcion  to 
brood  over  his  defeat  and  accuse  the  people  of 
Santiago  of  ingratitude ;  his  first  step  was  to 
cause  a  Cabildo  Abierto  to  be  summoned  wherein 
he  narrated  the  history  of  the  Congress.  They 
decided  at  once  to  recall  their  delegates  who  had 
voted  with  the  Moderados,  and  replaced  them  by 
others  who  could  be  relied  on  to  follow  Rozas. 
They  then  entered  their  protest  against  the  double 
representation  of  Santiago  and  threatened,  if  this 
evil  were  not  at  once  remedied,  to  erect  a  Junta 


; 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     197 

of  their  own  which  should  control  the  southern 
portion  of  the  country  and  withdraw  their  recog- 
nition from  the  National  Congress.  This  final 
action  was  taken  on  the  5th  of  September  and 
the  ultimatum,  for  such  it  really  was,  was  de- 
spatched at  once  by  an  accredited  envoy  to  the 
Capital.  But  the  people  of  Concepcion  were  too 
late;  before  their  envoy  had  reached  the  Maule, 
he  turned  and  hurriedly  retraced  his  way  to  Con- 
cepcion, bearing  news  that  effectively  changed  the 
plans  of  the  Exaltados  of  the  South. 

The  new  government  was  upon  the  rocks  be-  / 
fore  the  new  Junta  was  fairly  on  board.  With 
no  real  power  in  their  hands,  they  were  expected 
to  perform  great  deeds.  The  people  of  the 
Capital  had  become  accustomed  to  a  Junta  which 
really  accomplished  something.  They  remembered 
Rozas.  So  when  the  new  Junta  neither  accom- 
plished nor  promised  to  accomplish  anything,  since 
they  were  manacled  and  fettered  by  Congressional 
restrictions  and  Congressional  usurpation,  the 
people  of  Santiago  became  quickly  disgusted  with 
their  new  government.  The  Congress  too  was 
inactive.  There  seems  to  be  no  reasonable  doubt, 
when  one  considers  at  this  distance  of  time  the 
course  of  events  in  Chile,  that  the  Moderados 
agreed  perfectly  with  Rozas  as  to  the  desirability 
of  independence,  but  differed  from  him  as  to  its 
proper  method  and  period  of  attainment.  Where 
Rozas  was  enterprising  and  sagacious,  the  Moder- 
ados were  timid  and  dubitative. 


\ 


198     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Carrera  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  this 
changed  sentiment.  He  had  two  brothers  who 
were  officers,  one  of  grenadiers  and  the  other  of 
artillery,  and  who  were  stationed  in  the  Capital 
with  their  respective  commands.  He  offered  the 
services  of  his  family  to  the  Radicals  in  the  city 
and  a  compact  was  entered  into  between  them,  as 
early  as  the  27th  of  August.  On  the  morning  of 
September  4*th,  Colonel  Reina  was  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned, every  point  of  vantage  was  occupied, 
the  grenadiers  filled  the  Plaza,  and  Don  Jos.e 
Miguel  Carrera,  resplendent  in  his  uniform  of 
Major  of  the  Spanish  Hussars,  entered  the  Hall 
where  the  Congress  was  in  session  and  imposed  the 
will  of  the  Exaltados  upon  the  representatives. 
The  Junta  was  dismissed,  and  a  new  Junta,  com- 
posed of  Rozas,  Resales,  Calvo  Encalada,  Mac- 
kenna  and  Gasper  Marin  was  proclaimed;  the 
six  supernumerary  representatives  of  Santiago 
were  dismissed  and  two  of  the  members  from  Con- 
cepcion  were  displaced  to  make  room  for  two 
Exaltados.  Thus  the  blow  which  Rozas  had  con- 
templated for  the  8th  of  August  was  exactly  ac- 
complished by  Carrera  on  the  4th  of  September, 
and  the  Exaltados  were  in  a  moment  restored  to 
power  with  a  majority  of  two  in  the  Congress. 
This  was  the  news  which  invalidated  the  mission 
of  the  Envoy-messenger  from  Concepcion,  and 
sent  him  back  to  Rozas  without  accomplishing  his 
now  useless  embassy. 

Rozas,  thus  restored  to  power,  resumed  his  in- 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     199 

terrupted  plan  of  legislation.  One  of  the  great 
evils  that  had  grown  into  the  Church  system  was 
the  imposition  of  parochial  fees,  whose  excessive 
tariff  placed  some  of  the  sacraments  beyond  the 
means  of  many  of  the  people.  Marriage  fees 
especially  were  nearly  prohibitive,  and  the  ma- 
jority of  the  community  were  raising  families 
without  the  sanction  of  the  Church.  The  first 
law  passed  by  the  new  Junta  put  an  end  to  the 
sale  of  the  sacraments,  and  created  an  endowment 
or  dotation  for  the  support  of  the  parochial  . 
clergy.  A  Supreme  Court  of  Justice  was  also  es- 
tablished,  and  three  of  the  most  distinguished  law-  \ 
yers  in  Chile,  Juan  de  Dios  Vial  del  Rio,  Joaquin/H 
Echeverria  and  Jose  Maria  Rozas  were  named  as 
its  members. 

The  sessions  of  the  Congress  were  made  open 
and  public  to  all  who  wished  to  attend  them,  and  * 
on  the  7th  of  October  it  was  enacted  that  all  the 
discussions  in  the  Congress  and  all  the  acts  of  the 
government  should  be  published.  On  the  same 
day  it  was  enacted  that  on  the  first  of  every  month 
Treasury  reports  should  be  issued,  showing  the 
amount  and  source  of  the  menstrual  revenue,  the 
amount  and  destination  of  the  sums  disbursed  by 
the  government,  and  the  balance  remaining  in  the 
Treasury.  More  than  all  else,  the  Junta  urged 
on  the  Congress  the  necessity  of  formulating  the 
national  rights  and  establishing  a  Constitution. 
"A  review  of  the  history  of  other  nations  admon- 
ishes us,"  said  Rozas  in  a  message  to  the  Con- 


£00     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

gress,  "that  where  the  people  fail  to  restrain 
themselves  within  the  bounds  of  an  enlightened 
liberty,  their  rulers  will  not  be  contented  within 
the  limits  of  a  rational  authority;  the  people  are 
as  naturally  inclined  to  license  as  the  rulers  to 
tyranny.  That  government,  then,  which  holds 
one  to  the  due  obedience,  and  the  other  to  the  im- 
partial exercise,  of  the  law,  and  which  establishes 
this  law  as  a  centre  of  a  common  happiness  and  as 
the  guaranty  of  a  reciprocal  security,  will  be  your 
ideal  in  formulating  the  organic  law  of  your 
country." 

It  was  impossible  that  so  many  and  so  im- 
portant innovations  could  be  made  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Chile,  without  exciting  some  interest  in 
the  mind  of  Spain's  principal  representative  in 
America,  the  Viceroy  of  Peru.  In  fact,  the  roy- 
alists in  Santiago  kept  the  Viceroy,  Abascal,  com- 
pletely informed  of  the  condition  of  political  af- 
fairs in  Chile,  and  the  Junta  were  under  no 
illusion  whatever  as  to  their  relation  toward  the 
Viceroy.  Rozas  labored  continually,  almost  with- 
out respite  or  refreshment,  in  his  purpose  to  cut 
Chile  off  from  any  hope  of  reconciliation  with 
Spain,  and  to  establish  a  unity  of  sentiment 
throughout  the  whole  country.  He  made  no  con- 
cealment now  of  his  sympathy  with  Camilo  Hen- 
riquez,  and  of  his  responsibility  for  the  propa- 
ganda of  the  ex-priest,  who,  laying  aside  his 
breviary,  preached  opportune  sermons  from  the 
"Contrat  Social." 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     201 

The  Supreme  Council  of  Regency  also  had  been 
apprized  of  the  dangerous  state  of  affairs  in  Chile, 
and  had  instructed  Abascal  to  watch  zealously 
over  the  maintenance  of  the  royal  authority  in 
that  country.  Pursuant  to  these  instructions, 
Abascal  wrote  a  threatening  letter  to  the  Con- 
gress, demanding  an  explanation  of  their  convoca- 
tion and  a  copy  of  the  record  of  their  transac- 
tions. To  this  the  Congress  returned  a  neutral 
response,  but  decreed  the  enlistment  and  equip- 
ment of  a  body  of  militia,  in  which  should  be  com- 
pulsorily  enrolled  all  inhabitants  of  the  Colony 
between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  sixty.  This  de- 
cree was  published  by  the  Congress  with  a  copy 
of  the  letter  that  Abascal  had  sent,  and  so  great 
was  the  resentment  everywhere  felt  at  the  stric- 
tures and  menaces  of  the  Viceroy,  that  for  a  time 
the  whole  country  was  united  in  a  spirit  of  re- 
sistance to  the  arbitrary  authority  of  Spain. 
The  message  of  the  Viceroy  had  the  effect  of 
suddenly  quenching  the  flame  of  hostility  with 
which  the  Moderados  had  insisted  on  their  man- 
ner of  bringing  about  the  same  end  for  which  the 
Exaltados  were  also  striving;  and  in  the  face  of 
a  common  danger,  all  distinctions  of  method  and 
name  were  abandoned.  Thus  the  Exaltados  tri- 
umphed because  they  represented  the  logical 
progress  of  the  revolution. 

Meanwhile  Jose  Miguel  Carrera  had  been  en- 
tirely forgotten  by  the  Junta  that  he  had  re- 
instated in  power,  and  by  the  Congress  that  he 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

had  purged  of  its  Moderado  majority.  After 
chafing  under  this  neglect  for  two  months,  he 
finally  saw  his  hopes  blasted  by  the  complete 
fusion  of  both  parties  into  one,  among  whose 
members  harmony  and  mutual  confidence  reigned. 
Now  at  last  he  realized  that  he  had  nothing  to  ex- 
pect from  those  whom  he  had  befriended.  The 
situation,  to  one  of  his  ambitious  and  arrogant 
nature,  was  intolerable.  Rozas's  wise  and  judi- 
cious administration  in  no  wise  counterbalanced 
his  own  neglect  or  conciliated  his  own  pretensions. 
Among  the  royalists  in  Santiago  the  message  of 
Abascal  to  the  Congress  infused  a  sudden  hope 
and  an  unwonted  activity.  Carrera,  who  had 
despised  them,  saw  in  this  revival  of  royalist  en- 
thusiasm an  opening  for  his  own  ambition.  His 
two  brothers  had  endured  the  same  neglect  as 
himself,  and  when  he  proposed  to  them  an- 
other revolution  in  favor  of  the  royalists,  they 
readily  assented  to  his  proposition.  Then  Car- 
rera brought  together  the  royalist  leaders  and 
promised  them  to  restore  the  ancient  government, 
and  they,  knowing  well  the  humiliation  that  he 
had  suffered,  looked  upon  him  as  their  sure  sal- 
vation and  exulted  riotously  in  the  unexpected 
prospect  of  recovered  power.  Colonel  Juan  Mac- 
kenna  was  a  member  of  the  Junta  and  an  ardent 
follower  of  Rozas.  O'Higgins  spoke  of  him,  at 
a  later  period,  as  "the  most  accomplished  soldier 
and  the  most  accomplished  scholar  that  has  ap- 
peared on  either  side  in  the  revolution."  Mac- 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     203 

kenna  had  married  into  the  family  of  Vicuna,  who 
were  a  branch  of  the  patrician  house  of  the  Lar- 
rain,  and  bad  adopted  the  hostility  that  the 
Larrain  entertained  toward  the  Carrera.  Mac- 
kenna  had  distrusted  Jose  Miguel  Carrera  from 
the  time  of  their  first  meeting,  and  it  was  Mac- 
kenna  who  now  laid  before  the  Junta  his  suspicion 
of  Carrera,  for  he  had  in  some  way  divined 
the  conspiracy  that  was  being  planned.  The 
Junta  unwisely  forbore  to  take  Carrera  seriously, 
ascribed  Mackenna's  suspicions  to  personal  dislike, 
and  refused  even  to  investigate  the  matter  closely. 
But  while  Mackenna  failed  to  stir  the  Junta  into 
action,  his  accusation  when  made  public  was  the 
means  of  precipitating  the  movement  which  he 
had  predicted.  On  the  night  of  November  14th 
Carrera's  arrangements  were  completed,  and  be- 
fore daylight  on  the  15th,  the  grenadiers  and 
hussars  were  distributed  throughout  the  city  and 
the  artillery  had  occupied  the  Plaza  and  trained 
their  guns  upon  the  principal  streets  leading  into 
it.  Meanwhile  the  members  of  the  Junta  and  of 
the  Congress,  startled  from  their  sleep  by  the 
commotion  in  the  streets,  had  betaken  themselves, 
half  dressed,  to  their  place  of  meeting,  and  de- 
clared themselves  in  extraordinary  session,  but 
they  were  too  bewildered  to  reach  any  decision, 
and  knew  not  what  had  in  reality  taken  place. 
A  message  from,  Carrera  was  brought  to  them  an- 
nouncing that  every  quarter  of  the  city  was  oc- 
cupied with  the  troops,  that  every  gun  was  loaded 


204     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

with  ball,  and  that  they  must  instantly  resign  and 
depart  in  order  that  "the  reforms  that  the  people 
imperiously  demanded  might  be  accomplished 
without  delay."  Messengers  were  sent  out  by  the 
Junta  to  assure  themselves  of  the  truth  of  Car- 
rera's  representations,  and  having  verified  his 
statements,  the  Junta,  being  convinced  that  their 
withdrawal  alone  would  save  the  city  from  a  mas- 
sacre, offered  their  resignations  to  the  Congress 
and  left  the  Hall. 

With  the  resignation  of  the  Junta  on  Novem- 
ber 15th,  1811,  the  public  career  of  Juan  Mar- 
tinez de  Rozas  came  to  an  end.  His  work  was 
accomplished.  What  that  work  was  has  been 
briefly  outlined  in  the  preceding  pages  and  forms 
a  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  Chile.  For  the 
greater  part  of  a  year  he  had  been  a  member  of 
the  governing  body,  but  for  only  the  past  ten 
weeks  had  he  enjoyed  the  active  cooperation  of 
his  fellows.  During  the  rule  of  the  provisional 
Junta,  he  had  dominated  his  colleagues  by  his  in- 
tellectual superiority  and  his  moral  force,  but  he 
had  also  reconciled  them  to  that  domination  by 
his  kindliness,  his  tact  and  his  manifest  altruism, 
for  there  was  no  single  individual  in  the  pro- 
visional Junta  who  had  the  slightest  sympathy 
with  the  great  aim  and  purpose  of  Rozas's  efforts, 
or  who  even  divined  the  lofty  and  noble  motive 
that  inspired  him.  During  that  year  he  had 
turned  the  tide  of  sentiment  from  subserviency 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     205 

to  independence.  The  mere  enumeration  of  the 
legislative  benefits  that  he  showered  upon  his 
country  would  alone  form  the  text  for  apprecia- 
tive volumes.  As  if  with  a  presentiment  of  the 
limited  time  for  action,  he  worked  with  inde- 
fatigable zeal  and  insight  for  the  good  of  the 
nation,  and  in  a  year  he  succeeded,  beyond  all  ex- 
ample of  human  activity,  in  correcting  the  abuses 
which  had  taken  deep  root  during  three  centuries 
of  oppression  and  despotism.  Rozas  was  in  the 
fifty-third  year  of  his  age,  when,  by  a  sedition  as 
vulgar  as  it  was  violent,  since  it  was  set  on  foot 
merely  to  gratify  an  ignoble  ambition,  he  was 
thrust  from  the  office  which  he  had  dignified  by  the 
exercise  of  a  sagacious  and  admirable  statesman- 
ship. 

The  joy  of  the  royalists  was  short-lived. 
Carrera,  having  carried  through  his  coup  with 
their  assistance,  showed  his  contempt  of  them  by 
refusing  them  the  credit  of  participation  in  the 
emeute  that  had  raised  him  to  power.  He  even 
refused  to  interfere  when  a  complaint  was  laid 
before  the  Congress,  accusing  some  of  the  royalists, 
his  fellow  conspirators,  of  an  "attempt  to  disturb 
the  public  peace  and  withstand  the  constituted  au- 
thority of  the  nation,"  and  demanding  that  they 
receive  "severe  and  exemplary  punishment."  He 
now  announced  to  the  Congress  that  it  was  his  will 
that  a  Junta  of  three  be  named,  and  directed 
them  to  appoint  as  its  members  Don  Bernardo 


206     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

O'Higgins,  Gaspar  Marin  and  himself,  which  the 
Congress  at  once  did  and  the  new  Junta  entered 
into  office  immediately. 

It  was  now  evident  that  Carrera's  purpose  had 
been,  not  a  change  in  affairs,  but  simply  a  vindica- 
tion of  his  own  right  to  direct  them.  Between 
him  and  O'Higgins  there  was  never  any  sym- 
pathy, but  there  was  as  yet  no  actual  hostility. 
Carrera  regarded  O'Higgins  as  a  serviceable 
instrument,  and  O'Higgins  felt  an  instinctive  dis- 
trust of  Carrera  which  was  emphasized  by  the 
peculiar  treachery  of  his  sudden  rise  to  authority. 
In  fact  Carrera  realized  the  necessity  of  con- 
ciliating the  good  will  of  his  associates,  upon 
whom  he  had  intruded  his  own  pretensions  in  such 
a  harsh  and  unwelcome  manner,  and  he  thought 
to  succeed  by  the  timely  use  of,  suavity,  by  his  in- 
gratiating speech,  and  by  a  fascination  of  manner 
which  he  imagined  the  rude  Chileans  could  in  no 
wise  resist.  O'Higgins  for  one  was  not  imposed 
on  by  these  superficial  qualifications,  and  promptly 
resigned  from  the  Junta  together  with  Marin. 

O'Higgins's  resignation  was  in  part  due  to  the 
suggestion  of  Rozas  from  Concepcion,  whither  he 
had  returned,  and  Carrera  found  that  the  in- 
fluence of  his  predecessor  outweighed  all  the  per- 
sonal excellencies  with  which  he  had  thought  to 
impress  the  Congress.  He  therefore  dismissed  the 
Congress  on  the  2d  of  December,  and  appointed 
Jose  Nicolas  de  la  Cerda  and  Juan  Jose  Aldunate 
as  his  associates  in  the  Junta. 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     207 

Meanwhile  Rozas,  feeling  that  the  security  of 
the  country  was  threatened,  actively  employed 
himself  in  devising  means  to  remove  Carrera  from 
power.  If  Santiago  was  the  political  and  social 
centre  of  Chile,  Concepcion  was  its  military  centre 
and  Rozas  was  absolute  in  Concepcion.  More- 
over he  possessed  in  Santiago  much  greater  influ- 
ence and  resources  now  than  were  at  his  command 
three  months  earlier  when  he  sent  his  ultimatum 
to  the  Congress  which  had  disturbed  his  plans. 
Among  those  who  took  a  strenuous  part  with  him  , 
now  in  the  Capital  were  Mackenna,  Vial,  the  Lar-  V 
rains,  Vicuna  and  Argomedo.  But  it  was  written 
that  Rozas's  authority  was  not  to  be  restored. 
Carrera  was  informed  through  his  spies  of  the 
movement  in  Santiago  and  caused  all  the  leaders 
to  be  placed  under  immediate  arrest,  while  he  sent 
for  O'Higgins  requesting  an  interview  "for  the 
good  of  the  country."  To  O'Higgins  he  an- 
nounced his  entire  concurrence  in  the  movement 
which  Rozas  had  imparted  to  the  revolution,  he 
represented  the  certainty  of  the  coming  war  with 
Spain,  and  declared  the  absolute  necessity  of  his 
being  entrusted  with  the  conduct  of  military 
operations,  in  which  he  must  not  be  hampered 
by  an  unsympathetic  Congress.  He  then  ex- 
plained to  O'Higgins  the  plan  of  defense  which 
he  had  drawn  up,  and  appealed  to  O'Higgins's 
patriotism  to  assist  him  in  the  conduct  of  the  war. 
He  then  pleaded  with  him  to  undertake  the  mis- 
sion of  satisfying  Rozas  of  his  sincerity  and 


208     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

patriotism,  and  of  diverting  him  from  any  at- 
tempt against  him  (Carrera)  which  would  divide 
the  country,  introducing  discord  where  the  only 
hope  of  success  lay  in  perfect  harmony.  More- 
over, if  Rozas  distrusted  his  purpose  or  his  ca- 
pacity, he  besought  O'Higgins  to  bring  about  an 
interview  between  them,  when  he  would  satisfy 
Rozas  or  withdraw  at  once  from  the  direction  of 
affairs.  O'Higgins  undertook  the  mission  to 
Rozas,  but  he  had  no  credentials  from  Carrera,  and 
while  Rozas  and  the  Concepcion  Junta  placed 
firm  faith  in  O'Higgins,  yet  they  had  no  confi- 
dence in  Carrera's  promises  or  protestations. 
This  reluctance  to  trust  Carrera  was  justified  in 
the  progress  of  the  negotiations,  which  continued 
until  the  following  April  before  the  differences 
between  the  two  provinces  were  finally  composed. 
During  the  latter  part  of  this  period  Santiago 
and  Concepcion  were  more  than  once  on  the  point 
of  engaging  in  civil  strife,  and  an  army  of  five 
thousand  men  had  actually  taken  possession  of 
the  passes  of  the  Maule,  before  Carrera  finally 
yielded  to  the  demand  of  Concepcion  to  summon 
another  Congress  which  should  restrain  the  Junta 
in  the  exercise  of  its  authority.  Meanwhile,  tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  divided  state  of  Chile, 
the  royalists  had  possessed  themselves  of  the  city 
of  Valdivia  and  were  becoming  active  even  in  the 
Capital.  Whether  Rozas  was  deceived  by  Car- 
rera's representations  or  feared  to  cause  a  civil 
war  in  Chile,  he  withdrew  all  his  pretensions  to 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     209 

authority,  although  he  might  well  despair  of  the 
future  while  it  lay  in  the  hands  of  such  a  man 
as  Carrera.  But  Rozas  was  unfitted  for  so  vulgar 
a  contest.  Not  on  the  sordid  field  of  personal 
ambition  had  his  victories  been  won.  He  might 
well  realize  the  value  of  his  services  to  Chile  and 
might  well  believe  that  they  were  too  securely 
guaranteed  by  the  sanction  of  his  countrymen  to 
fall  before  so  inexperienced  an  innovator  as  Car- 
rera. But  while  Rozas's  laws  might  be  safe,  his 
life  was  not,  for  Carrera  could  not  feel  secure  while 
he  lived.  A  few  days  after  they  had  parted  at  the 
Maule,  reconciled  at  least  if  not  friends,  Carrera 
suborned  the  royalists  in  Concepcion  to  raise  a  re- 
volt against  the  local  Junta  and  promised  them 
his  assistance.  How  any  one  could  still  put  any 
faith  in  Carrera's  promises  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand, but  he  sent  them  also  some  six  thousand 
dollars  in  money,  which  must  have  persuaded  them 
of  his  good  faith.  So  they  carried  out  his  direc- 
tions and  while  the  city  was  in  the  direst  tumult, 
some  of  Carrera's  emissaries  seized  upon  Rozas 
and,  aided  by  the  confusion,  carried  him  away  and 
rode  rapidly  northward  to  Santiago.  At  the 
Maule  an  order  was  received  from  the  Junta  of 
Santiago,  directing  Rozas  to  leave  Chilean  soil  at 
once,  and  at  the  same  time  a  passport  to  Mendoza 
was  given  him.  So  Rozas  departed  into  exile, 
where  he  died  within  a  month.  Before  leaving 
Chile,  however,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Carrera. 

In  this  letter  went  no  word  of  personal  com- 


210     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

plaint  or  resentment,  no  expostulation  as  to  the 
atrocious  injustice  of  Carrera  in  causing  him  to  be 
kidnapped  and  exiled  like  a  felon,  no  threat  of 
vengeance  or  retribution.  Rozas  had  never  had 
any  ambition  for  himself,  and  his  last  word  to 
Carrera  was  directed  solely  to  the  welfare  of  Chile. 
He  informed  him  that  the  city  of  Concepcion  was 
the  point  at  which  the  Viceroy's  army  would  land, 
and  exhorted  him  to  take  certain  measures,  which 
he  proceeded  to  indicate,  to  prepare  Concepcion  to 
resist  that  attempt.  Rozas  was  always  great, — 
the  last  moment  he  became  sublime. 

So  Carrera  for  the  present  triumphed,  or  seemed 
to  triumph ;  and  yet  he  had  by  this  time  alienated 
the  friendship  of  the  majority  of  the  best  men  in 
Chile.  The  army  still  supported  him,  and  every 
act  of  his  as  a  legislator  had  for  its  motive  the 
strengthening  of  his  hold  on  his  soldiers  and  the 
erection  of  their  officers  into  a  privileged  class. 
To  this  general  rule  there  was  one  exception,  which 
brings  into  significant  contrast  with  the  serious 
statesmanship  of  Rozas,  the  jaunty  inconsequence 
of  Carrera.  He  chose  this  very  time,  when  a 
great  part  of  the  clergy  were  uncertain  which 
cause  to  espouse,  and  when  they  might  be  of 
signal  service  to  the  country  if  conciliated,  to  is- 
sue a  decree  that  "for  the  future  the  word  Roman 
should  be  omitted  from  the  title  of  the  Church  in 
Chile."  The  result  was  decisive.  The  clergy  no 
longer  hesitated. 

The   only   other  memorable  occurrence   of  this 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

dreary  period  was  the  arrival  in  Santiago  on  the 
24th  day  of  February,  1812,  of  Mr.  Joel  Roberts 
Poinsett.  He  is  spoken  of  always  as  the  "Amer- 
ican Consul,"  but  his  instructions  were  probably 
more  diplomatic  than  commercial  in  character,  and 
his  arrival  and  reception  by  the  Junta  gave,  as  it 
was  intended  to  give,  an  assurance  of  the  sympathy 
of  the  United  States  for  Chile  which  wonderfully 
strengthened  the  patriots  in  their  purpose  of  in- 
dependence. Mr.  Poinsett  by  no  means  concealed 
his  own  interest  in  the  cause  of  Chilean  freedom, 
and  seems  indeed  to  have  filled  an  honorary  posi- 
tion on  Carrera's  staff.  Two  days  after  his 
reception,  on  February  26th,  the  Aurora  an- 
nounced that  "Mr.  Poinsett  had  sent  to  the  United 
States  for  six  thousand  muskets,  one  thousand 
pistols  and  some  light  field  pieces,  besides  uniforms, 
saddles  and  trumpets."  Mr.  Poinsett  was  after- 
ward Secretary  of  War  during  Van  Buren's  ad- 
ministration from  1837  to  1841,  and  must  have 
appreciated  the  significance  of  his  activities  in 
Chile. 

In  July,  1812,  the  royalists  had  taken  posses-  \ 
sion    of    Valdivia.     To    Abascal,    the   Viceroy   of  / 
Peru,   this  seemed  the  turning  of  the  tide.     On 
the  19th  of  October  he  sent  a  long  despatch  to  the 
Chilean  Junta,  in  which  he  overwhelmed  the  Junta 
with  insults,  and  spoke  of  Chile  with  the  utmost 
contempt,  demanding  the  instantaneous  reinstate- 
ment of  the  royal  officials  under  the  penalty  of 
summary  punishment  by  the  royal  armies.     The 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Cabildo  of  Santiago  replied  with  a  formal  declara- 
tion of  war  against  the  Viceroy  of  Peru,  and  the 
Junta  "took  the  matter  under  advisement,"  but 
made  no  reply  to  the  Viceroy.  Benavente,  who  was 
always  an  admiring  friend  of  Carrera,  says  that 
the  Viceroy  "commanded  the  Junta  to  swear  allegi- 
ance to  the  royal  standard;  to  proclaim  Ferdi- 
nand VII.  as  absolute  sovereign,  the  Supreme 
Council  of  Regency  as  his  only  representative,  and 
His  Excellency  Jose  Miguel  Carrera  as  Captain 
General  and  President  of  Chile."  There  is  no 
such  clause  in  the  copy  of  the  Viceroy's  message 
which  is  in  my  possession,  but  even  if  the  Viceroy 
had  so  instructed  the  Junta,  it  seems  unlikely  that 
Carrera  could  be  deluded  into  accepting  a  commis- 
sion which  the  temper  of  Chile  must  have  assured 
him  would  have  been  of  little  value  and  of  short 
duration. 

On  March  26,  1813,  Brigadier  General  Don  An- 
tonio Parej  a  landed  in  the  bay  of  Talcahuano  with 
an  army  of  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy 
men,  sent  by  the  Viceroy  of  Peru  to  subdue  the 
kingdom  of  Chile,  and  summoned  Concepcion  to 
surrender.  Carrera  had  despised  Rozas'  warn- 
ing, and  timidity  and  treason  yielded  to  the  roy- 
alists the  immediate  possession  of  the  city  with- 
a  gun  being  fired  in  its  defense.  Parej  a  left 
a  suitable  garrison  in  Concepcion  and  Talcahuano, 
and  marched  rapidly  northward  that  he  might 
surprise  the  country.  He  had  expected  to  fill  up 
his  skeleton  ranks  with  the  royalists  of  Chile,  and 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     213 

his  hope  was  verified,  for  when  he  reached  Chilian 
on  the  15th  of  April,  his  immediate  command  had 
increased  to  fifty-five  hundred  men,  the  whole  of 
Chile  south  of  the  Maule  was  come  under  his  con- 
trol and  every  town  and  village  was  garrisoned 
with  his  soldiers. 

Carrera,  the  autocrat  of  Chile  and  commander 
in  chief  of  her  army,  had  not  taken  a  single  ef- 
fective step  to  prepare  the  country  to  resist  tlj£ 
invaders.  His  "plan  of  defense"  which  he  haid 
flaunted  triumphantly  before  the  eyes  of  Rozas 
was  a  mere  hoax,  and  was  disconcerted  by  the  very 
movement  of  which  Rozas  had  fully  warned  him. 
The  country,  too,  was  divided  into  bitter  factions 
and  would  certainly  have  been  soon  rent  by  civil 
war,  if  the  advance  of  Pareja  had  not  suddenly 
stilled  every  voice  in  Chile  but  the  voice  of  patriot- 
ism. 

When  the  news  of  the  landing  of  Parej  a  reached 
Santiago  on  the  31st  of  March,  Carrera  fulmi- 
nated a  tardy  declaration  of  war  against  the 
Viceroy  of  Peru ;  erected  a  gallows  in  the  plaza  to 
intimidate  the  royalists  of  Santiago,  imposed  an 
extraordinary  contribution  of  four  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  on  the  Capital,  and  issued  a  proclama- 
tion to  the  inhabitants  of  Chile.  April  1st  he 
marched  to  Rancagua,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Pom- 
sett,  Capt.  Benavente  and  a  sergeant  and  corporal 
of  the  Grand  National  Guard,  with  twelve  soldiers. 
By  the  5th  he  had  advanced  to  Talca  and  estab- 
lished his  headquarters  there,  and  on  the  9th  of 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

April  his  army  had  increased  to  one  hundred  and 
eleven  men;  on  the  12th  came  in  the  rest  of  the 
Grand  National  Guard  amounting  to  two  hundred 
and  thirty  men,  who  were  armed  only  with  their 
swords,  for  the  government  had  taken  their  mus- 
kets to  arm  the  militia  which  was  collecting  in  the 
Capital.  On  the  14th  Luis  Carrera  arrived  with 
the  artillery  train  consisting  of  sixteen  small  field 
pieces  ill-mounted,  two  hundred  soldiers,  four  hun- 
dred mules  and  seventy  wagons  containing  sup- 
plies. The  18th  saw  his  forces  augmented  by 
the  battalion  of  grenadiers,  six  hundred  strong, 
and  by  fifteen  hundred  mounted  militia.  Colonel 
O'Higgins  was  one  of  the  first  officers  to  reach 
headquarters,  and  offer  his  services  loyally  to  the 
commander.  Carrera  in  his  "Diario  Militar" 
says : — "I  could  not  get  a  moment's  rest.  Among 
the  duties  that  filled  my  hands  were  drilling  the 
militia,  organizing  the  treasury,  creating  a  com- 
missary department,  collecting  stores,  purchasing 
horses  and  all  kinds  of  supplies,  ascertaining  the 
physical  character  of  the  district  that  was  to  be  the 
theatre  of  war,  of  which  not  even  a  sketch  had  been 
made,  the  necessary  correspondence,"  etc.  These 
were  the  things  that  were  to  be  done  in  the  face  of 
an  advancing  enemy,  by  a  general  who  had  had 
seventeen  months  to  prepare  for  this  very  emer- 
gency. Carrera  is  condemned  as  a  general  out  of 
his  own  private  diary.  However,  the  enthusiasm 
and  devotion  of  the  soldiers  counterbalanced  for 
the  time  the  incapacity  of  their  general,  and  while 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     215 

still  outnumbered  by  Pare j  a,  two  to  one,  they 
awaited  in  eager  expectancy  the  command  to  move 
against  the  royalists.  By  this  time,  too,  Colonel 
Mackenna,  Commander  Vial,  Brigadier  General 
Juan  Jose  Carrera  and  other  officers  had  come  to 
headquarters  in  Talca  full  of  hope  and  energy, 
and  the  affairs  of  the  patriot  army  became  daily 
more  encouraging.  Colonel  O'Higgins  had  already 
stimulated  them  by  an  exploit  that  roused  their 
enthusiasm  to  the  point  of  impatience.  General 
Pareja  had  sent  Colonel  Carbajal  to  Cauquenes  to 
secure  that  important  place,  and  Carbajal  had 
despatched  a  body  of  eighty  cavalry  to  Linares  to 
collect  horses  and  to  confirm  the  adherence  of  the 
royalists  who  were  resident  there.  Colonel  O'Hig- 
gins had  learned  of  the  presence  of  the  detachment 
of  Carbajal's  dragoons  in  Linares,  and  requested 
leave  to  surprise  and  capture  them.  His  request 
granted,  he  set  out  in  the  evening  with  twenty- 
seven  men,  armed  with  sword  and  pistol,  for  Lin- 
ares. This  place  is  somewhat  over  fifty  miles 
south  of  Talca  and  it  was  eight  o'clock  the  next 
morning  when  O'Higgins  with  his  twenty-seven 
militia  rode  into  the  square  in  Linares  and  sur- 
prised Colonel  Carbajal's  dragoons  while  they  were 
eating  their  breakfast.  He  took  them  all  pris- 
oners and  carried  them  away  to  Talca. 

Pare  j  a  stayed  but  a  few  days  in  Chilian.  On  his 
way  to  Linares  he  despatched  to  Carrera  a  sum- 
mons to  surrender,  promising  him  personally  the 
post  of  Captain  General  of  Chile  under  the  King, 


216     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

and  offering  amnesty' to  his  soldiers.  Varela,  one 
of  Elorreaga's  officers,  was  the  bearer  of  Pareja's 
message.  While  Carrera  was  reading  it,  some 
shots  were  fired  and  two  of  the  soldiers  in  the  reg- 
iment of  San  Fernando  were  killed.  Carrera  at 
once  put  an  end  to  the  interview  and  ordered 
Varela  to  depart,  which  he  was  constrained  to  do, 
»  protesting  his  innocence  of  the  affront.  Carrera 
was  deeply  offended  at  such  a  flagrant  violation  of 
the  usages  of  war  and  determined  to  read  the  of- 
fender a  lesson.  Elorreaga  had  about  four  hun- 
dred men  in  his  detachment,  which  served  as  the 
advance  guard  of  Pareja's  army,  which  was  sup- 
posed to  be  about  a  day's  march  to  the  south  of 
Linares, — and  in  the  expectation  that  Elorreaga 
would  quarter  for  the  night  in  Yerbas  Buenas, 
Carrera  sent  Colonel  Puga  with  six  hundred  men 
from  Talca  to  beat  up  his  quarters. 

Yerbas  Buenas-i?  situated  in  an  open  plain  ris- 
ing somewhat  from  the  level  of  the  river,  and  con- 
sisted at  that  time  of  a  chapel  and  the  adjoining 
house  of  the  curate,  the  plaza  being  enclosed  with 
a  brush  fence  beyond  which  were  a  few  thatched 
ranches.  Riding  along  swiftly,  Colonel  Puga  came 
unaware  upon  two  or  three  sentinels  whom  he 
overwhelmed  silently,  and  on  riding  confidently 
into  the  plaza  in  front  of  the  chapel  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  found  that  he  had 
fallen  upon  Pareja's  whole  army.  The  General 
with  his  staff  was  sleeping  in  the  curate's  corridor, 
and  his  men  were  lying  in  the  plaza  and  the  sur- 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     217 

rounding  fields.  With  a  shout  "Death  to  the\ 
King!"  the  Chileans  fell  upon  them.  In  a  mo-  < 
ment  all  was  confusion.  Stupefied  with  sleep  and 
fatigue,  the  royalists  fell  a  ready  prey  to  the  pa- 
triots' swords  or  endeavored  distractedly  to  es- 
cape. There  was  no  resistance.  Pareja  fled 
naked  on  a  horse  that  was  brought  him,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  his  whole  army  had  dispersed.  In  the 
chapel  were  found  his  stores  and  military  chest, 
and  Colonel  Puga  and  his  men  returned  to  Talca 
laden  down  with  spoils.  How  many  of  Pareja's 
men  were  killed,  the  despatch  of  the  General  in 
Chief  to  the  Junta  on  April  29th  does  not  say. 

The  result  of  the  affair  at  Yerbas  Buenas  was 
very  important.  The  enthusiastic  delight  of  the 
Chileans  was  only  equalled  by  the  discouragement 
of  the  royalists.  Mariano  Torrente,  the  Spanish 
historian,  says: 

"This  action  must  be  considered  as  the  beginning  of 
all  our  subsequent  misfortunes.  The  troops  believed 
that  such  negligence  in  their  officers  must  have  been 
the  result  of  treason,  and  this  distrust  led  to  the  de- 
sertion of  whole  detachments  of  our  army,  and  the 
desertion  of  the  disaffected  caused  the  desperation  of 
those  who  remained.  Pareja,  yielding  to  his  chagrin 
at  his  disgraceful  defeat  and  to  his  rage  at  the  deser- 
tion of  his  soldiers,  fell  an  easy  victim  to  an  attack  of 
malignant  fever/' 

But  Carrera  failed  to  follow  up  his  good  for- 
tune at  Yerbas  Buenas.  Torrente  himself  con- 


218     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

fesses  that  if  the  Chileans  had  ^attacked  Pareja 
before  he  had  crossed  the  river  Nuble,  the  ruin  of 
the  King's  army  would  have  been  inevitable.  He 
was  content  to  receive  the  deserters  who  joined 
him,  and  to  learn  that  Pareja's  forces  went  melt- 
ing away  as  their  retreat  continued,  but  he  threw 
the  blame  of  his  delay  upon  the  Junta  in  Santiago. 
When  the  Junta,  of  which  Carrera  was  the 
dominant  member,  appointed  him  to  the  chief  com- 
mand of  the  army,  he  left  his  brother  Juan  Jose 
Carrera  in  his  place  in  the  Capital.  Between  the 
two  brothers  there  had  always  been  much  ill-feel- 
ing. Juan  Jose  was  the  elder,  and  resented  Jose 
Miguel's  superiority  of  rank.  He  had  no  wish  to 
remain  inactive  in  Santiago,  occupied  solely  in 
conserving  his  brother's  place  in  the  Junta,  when 
he  could  advance  his  own  glory  in  the  field;  so  he 
left  the  Capital  and  came  to  the  headquarters  of 
the  army  at  Talca.  The  two  remaining  members 
of  the  Junta,  Agustin  Eyzaguirre  and  Jose 
Miguel  Infante,  appointed  Jose  Ignacio  Cien- 
fuegos  as  their  colleague,  and  they  were  all  rather 
ill-disposed  to  Carrera.  On  the  eve  of  the  affair  at 
Yerbas  Buenas,  Carrera  had  despatched  Colonel 
Mendiburu  to  the  Capital  to  request  the  Junta  to 
forward  the  militia  reserves  and  he  delayed  the  ac- 
tive prosecution  of  Parej  a  until  these  forces  should 
come  up.  But  after  Yerbas  Buenas,  the  Junta 
decided  that  he  would  not  need  them  to  annihilate 
the  already  discomfited  royalists,  and  that  it  would 
not  be  wise  to  strip  the  Capital  of  the  forces  needed 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     219 

to  secure  internal  order.  So  Carrera  in  resent- 
ment permitted  his  foe  to  gather  up  his  frag- 
ments and  reform,  while  he  languidly  followed  him 
southward  for  over  two  weeks  without  seeking  any 
occasion  to  molest  him.  On  May  15,  he  unwarily 
came  up  with  Pareja's  rear  guard  at  San  Carlos, 
and  a  trifling  engagement  ensued  which  scarcely 
disarranged  the  order  of  Pareja's  retreat,  who 
without  further  loss  gained  Chilian,  which  he  pro- 
ceeded to  fortify  for  his  winter  quarters.  On  July 
10,  Carrera  sat  down  before  Chilian  and  declared  a 
state  of  siege.  The  winter  rains  had  already  set 
in. 

To  read  without  impatience  the  history  of  the 
early  campaigns  in  Chile,  it  is  necessary  to  put 
aside  and  forget  for  the  while  all  that  one  has 
learned  of  the  scientific  conduct  of  war.  In  this 
series  of  contests,  where  the  windfall  of  Yerbas 
Buenas  and  the  rear  guard  incident  of  San  Carlos 
are  termed  battles,  and  the  session  of  Carrera  be- 
fore Chilian  is  called  a  siege,  we  must  not  expect 
to  discover  any  consecutive  plan  of  campaign,  any 
continuous  purpose,  any  objective  whatever,  save 
only  the  alternative  proposition,  "kill  or  be  killed." 
The  engagements  recorded  are  not  battles  but 
fights.  The  Maipo  is  the  only  battle  of  the  war. 
There  was  no  strategy,  no  reconnaisance.  De- 
tachments stumbled  on  each  other  unexpectedly, 
and  fell  to  fighting  without  premeditation,  until 
one  or  the  other  gave  way  and  ran.  Pareja  at 
Yerbas  Buenas  relied  on  a  thin  line  of  sleepy 


220     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

pickets  to  guard  his  whole  army.  At  Roble,  Car- 
rera  and  O'Higgins  were  surprised  simultaneously 
and  Carrera  was  ignominiously  beaten.  Strategy 
was  almost  unknown.  There  was  no  general  at  all 
worthy  of1  the  name  on  either  side  until  San  Martin 
appeared.  Pareja  was  a  naval  officer.  Colonel 
Elorreaga,  who  had  served  his  apprenticeship  to 
war  in  selling  ribbon  by  the  yard  over  the  counter 
of  a  dry-goods  store  in  Santiago,  was  a  better  of- 
ficer than  the  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Chilean 
army,  Brigadier  General  Don  Jose  Miguel  Car- 
rera, who  had  served  as  an  officer  under  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  in  the  Peninsula.  Bernardo  O'Hig- 
gins,  the  incarnation  of  Chilean  patriotism,  was 
not  a  general  at  all,  but  a  caballero-andante,  a 
KJnight-errant.  As  Napier  said  of  Cuesta,  "To 
rush  headlong  into  battle  constituted  in  his  mind 
all  the  duties  of  a  general."  O'Higgins  was  Sir 
Huon  of  Bordeaux  revived  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. At  Chilian  the  army  of  the  royalists  was 
comfortably  housed  and  fed  to  satiety,  while  that 
of  Carrera,  drenched  with  the  rain  and  whipped 
with  the  cold  wind  from  the  Cordillera,  perished 
from  disease  and  starvation.  When  the  Chileans 
entered  the  city  from  time  to  time,  they  scattered 
at  once  in  all  directions  looking  for  food  and 
clothing,  while  the  only  sallies  made  by  the  be- 
sieged were  when  foraging  parties  set  out  to  rav- 
age the  country  and  returned  unmolested  with 
abundant  supplies.  This  was  the  "Siege  of  Chil- 
ian," where  the  besiegers  envied  the  besieged  the 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

privilege  of  going  where  they  pleased,  and  the 
enjoyment  of  all  the  comforts  of  life  which  they 
themselves  lacked. 

When  Pare j a  entered  Chilian  on  May  15, 
O'Higgins  with  thirty  men  was  sent  by  Carrera 
to  regain  the  cities  of  the  south  which  had  yielded 
to  Pareja.  O'Higgins's  personal  popularity 
throughout  the  province  of  Concepcion  doubtless 
facilitated  greatly  his  mission,  for  in  less  time 
than  had  sufficed  for  Pareja  to  subvert  them, 
O'Higgins  had  received  their  submission.  Only 
Los  Angeles  withstood  his  summons,  but  O'Hig- 
gins dashed  into  the  town,  repeated  his  exploit  at 
Linares,  and  Los  Angeles  resumed  its  interrupted 
allegiance.  During  this  series  of  operations 
O'Higgins  had  increased  his  little  band  of  thirty 
mounted  militia,  until  it  reached  the  respectable 
figure  of  one  thousand  men,  whom  he  had  armed, 
mounted  and  paid  at  his  own  expense,  and  with 
whom  he  returned  in  triumph  to  the  siege  of  Chil- 
ian, where  Carrera  from  the  heights  of  Collanco 
was  watching  the  beleaguered  royalists. 

As  this  burlesque  siege  continued,  there  grad- 
ually grew  up  in  the  minds  of  the  two  leaders  of 
the  opposite  armies  a  sentiment  which  was  almost 
akin  to  animosity.  Each  thought  the  other  stub- 
born, but  General  Sanchez  was  the  first  to  lose 
his  patience.  "On  the  morning  of  the  10th  of 
August,"  writes  Benavente,  a  staunch  partisan  of 
Carrera,  "under  cover  of  a  heavy  fog,  the  enemy 
sallied  from  Chilian,  and  when  at  seven  o'clock  the 


222     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

fog  lifted,  we  discovered  his  army  in  battle  forma- 
tion not  far  from  our  camp.  A  flag  of  truce  ad- 
vanced and  delivered  the  following  communica- 
tion: 

"To  the  General  in  Chief,  Don  Jose  Miguel  Carrera: 
"Although  without  this  formality  I  could  easily  de- 
stroy the  miserable  relics  of  the  army  which  you  com- 
mand, such  a  step  would  conform  neither  with  my 
merciful  disposition  nor  with  the  pious  intentions  of 
my  predecessor  in  office.  It  is,  however,  indispensable 
that  you  surrender  at  discretion,  for  otherwise  I  shall 
inexorably  inflict  upon  you  the  unmitigated  rigor  of 
military  law  within  the  few  moments  that  I  shall  need 
to  cover  the  short  distance  that  separates  us.  Now  is 
the  opportunity  for  you  to  prove  the  humanity  of  your 
heart  in  evading  by  surrender  the  destruction  of  your- 
self and  of  all  the  wretches  who  are  in  your  company, 
which  will  inevitably  result  from  the  superior  number 
and  bravery  of  my  troops  who  await  with  impatience 
the  signal  to  give  the  attack.  May  God  preserve  you 
many  years. 

"The  Encampment  of  the  Royal  Army  in  Chilian, 
Aug.  10,  1813. 

"JUAN  FRANCISCO  SANCHEZ." 

"While  this  communication  was  being  answered, 
our  troops  formed  in  line  with  extraordinary  en- 
thusiasm and  decision,  even  refusing  the  rum  that 
was  served  out  to  them,  saying  that  their  courage 
needed  no  stimulant."  The  General  in  Chief  re- 
plied by  the  following  letter  : — 

"The  miserable  relics  of  the  National  Army  await 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

with  the  greatest  impatience  the  formidable  army  un- 
der your  command.  I  would  that  you  had  omitted  the 
ceremony  of  your  message  that  we  might  have  pre- 
vented the  delay.  The  death  with  which  you  threaten 
me  is  the  noblest  reward  that  I  could  receive  for  my 
labors,  and  now  that  you  defy  me  by  fire  and  blood, 
I  accept  your  challenge.  I  only  regret  that  you 
should  remain  personally  in  Chilian  instead  of  partici- 
pating in  the  glory  of  your  troops,  but  perhaps  your 
heart  is  too  tender  to  behold  the  destruction  of  my 
unhappy  soldiers.  May  God  preserve  you  many 
years.  JOSE  MIGUEL  CARRERA." 

"After  the  departure  of  the  envoy  with  his  re- 
ply we  were  prepared  for  a  bloody  engagement 
and  undauntedly  awaited  the  onset  of  the  enemy, 
but  they  at  once  turned  and  marched  back  into 
Chilian,  and  we  began  our  retreat."  So  suddenly 
and  so  inexplicably  was  the  siege  of  Chilian  raised. 
"The  Chilean  poet  who  may  seize  on  this  episode 
of  our  revolution,"  continues  Benavente,  "will  find 
therein  the  material  for  a  sublime  epic,  noble 
flashes  of  patriotism,  strokes  of  generosity,  exam- 
ples of  civic  virtues.  There  Don  Jose  Miguel  Car- 
rera  will  exemplify  the  gifts  of  Agamemnon  and 
his  brother  Luis  the  indomitable  valor  of  Ajax." 

Meanwhile  the  army  was  discouraged  and  disor- 
ganized, without  supplies,  without  ammunition,  al- 
most without  arms.  The  soldiers  had  discovered 
that  their  idol,  Carrera,  had  feet  of  clay;  that  he 
was  merely  a  hero  of  the  barracks  in  time  of  peace, 
and  not  a  general  to  whom  they  could  look  with 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

confidence  for  wise  and  brilliant  leadership  in  the 
day  of  battle. 

After  raising  the  siege  of  Chilian,  Carrera  led 
his  forces  to  the  south,  leaving  the  road  to  the 
Capital  unobstructed  save  by  an  inadequate  gar- 
rison at  Talca,  while  Santiago  itself  relied  for  its 
defense  on  some  raw  levies,  sparsely  armed  and 
with  no  one  to  drill  them  or  even  to  command  them. 
He  at  once  proceeded  to  commit  the  further  dis- 
astrous error  of  subdividing  his  army  into  small 
detachments  to  guard  the  places  of  importance 
throughout  the  province  of  Concepcion.  As  a  re- 
sult of  these  fatal  provisions,  the  strongholds  of 
the  South  fell  again,  one  after  another,  into  the 
hands  of  the  royalists,  until  the  whole  of  the  in- 
terior places  of  importance  were  lost  to  the  pa- 
triots. A  guerrilla  warfare  of  surprises  and  in- 
considerable actions  now  took  the  place  of  con- 
certed opposition,  and  at  this  kind  of  warfare 
Carrera  and  his  officers  proved  themselves  greatly 
the  inferiors  of  Elorreaga,  Lantano  and  Urrejola. 
Of  all  these  numerous  affairs  one  only  was  of  con- 
sequence, that  of  Roble. 

There,  on  the  banks  of  the  Itata,  Carrera  and 
O'Higgins  had  met  to  concert  another  attack  on 
Chilian.  At  four  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  Oc- 
tober 16,  they  encamped  for  the  night  on  a  slope 
that  guarded  the  ford  which  took  its  name  from  an 
oak  tree  (roble)  that  marked  the  passage.  Elor- 
reaga with  four  or  five  hundred  men,  had  clung 
close  to  O'Higgins's  flank  for  three  days,  subject- 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

ing  him  to  constant  annoyance  and  some  trifling 
losses,  but  without  caring  to  engage  at  close  quar- 
ters. O'Higgins's  army  of  five  hundred  infantry, 
five  pieces  of  artillery  and  a  few  mounted  militia, 
were  encamped  at  the  summit  of  the  slope  or  hill 
overlooking  the  Itata,  and  were  protected  by  a 
palisade.  Carrera  with  the  mounted  militia  and 
dragoons,  lay  a  little  further  down  the  river  bank, 
while  several  squads  of  mounted  pickets  patrolled 
the  river  for  a  distance  of  a  league  above  and  a 
league  below  the  camp.  A  portion  of  the  Grand 
Guard  was  stationed  on  the  road  leading  to  the 
ford.  At  day-break  Elorreaga  fell  upon  the 
Grand  Guard  and  killed  them  to  a  man,  and  sim- 
ultaneously attacked  the  two  camps.  Carrera, 
roused  from  sleep,  called  for  his  horse  and  at- 
tempted to  rally  his  men,  but  a  shot  killed  his 
horse  and  his  men  had  scattered  beyond  immediate 
recall.  Carrera  saw  them  making  their  way  on  * 
foot  up  the  slope  to  gain  the  protection  of  the  * 
other  camp,  but  his  aide  dissuaded  him  from  fol- 
lowing them,  and  led  him  out  by  way  of  the  river. 
He  plunged  in,  avoiding  the  ford,  and  swam  | 
across.  The  attack  on  O'Higgins's  camp  was 
made  at  the  same  time.  The  panic  was  inde- 
scribable. O'Higgins  sprang  from  his  bed  and 
rushed  half  clad  to  the  palisade.  In  the  early 
mist  he  saw  the  enemy  tearing  down  the  palisade 
and  rushing  into  the  enclosure,  while  his  own  men 
were  running  in  all  directions  with  no  purpose  but 
to  escape.  He  snatched  a  musket  from  a  soldier 


226     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

who  fell  at  his  side,  and  brandishing  it  above  his 

(head,  shouted  aloud,  "He  who  is  brave,  follow  me ! 
JLive  with  honor  or  die  with  glory !  Follow  me !" 
Instantly  the  terrified  soldiers  rallied  at  his  voice, 
and  camej  from  all  sides  at  their  leader's  call.  For 
three  hours  of  hand  to  hand  fighting  the  struggle 
lasted.  Some  one  brought  O'Higgins  a  horse,  and 
he  rode  from  one  place  to  another  encouraging  his 
men.  His  horse  was  killed,  a  bullet  pierced  his 
own  thigh,  but  he  continued  to  animate  his  men 
with  his  voice  and  with  his  example,  until  the  dis- 
comfited remnants  of  the  royalists  gave  way  and 
fled  across  the  ford  into  the  forest  beyond.  After 
the  victory  was  won,  the  Commander  in  Chief  re- 
turned, and  by;  his  safety  completed  the  joy  of  his 
victorious  soldiers.  This  was  the  battle  of  Roble, 
fought  October  17,  181S. 

On  October  20,  the  Junta  left  Santiago  and  es- 
tablished the  seat  of  government  at  Talca,  "in 
order  that  theyl  might  become  in  earlier  touch  with 
the  headquarters1  of  the  army,"  and  on  the  27th  of 
November  the  Junta  degraded  Carrera  from  the 
chief  command,  and  named  O'Higgins  in  his  place. 
It  is  probable  that  the  Junta  intended,  from  the 
time  that  the  siege  of  Chilian  was  raised,  to  make 
a  change  in  the  general  in  chief,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  they  hoped,  by  removing  to  Talca, 

Xto  escape  the  hostile  demonstration  which  they  had 
reason  to  believe  would  be  made  against  them 
if  they  remained  in  Santiago.  For  the  people 
were  beginning  to  have  views  and  purposes,  and 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     227 

to  express  them  with  the  emphasis  that  is  peculiar 
to  public  sentiment,  and  Carrera  was  still  popular 
with  the  people  of  Santiago,  because  he  satisfied 
the  civilian  ideal  of  a  general.  Carrera  was  with- 
out doubt  willing  at  first  and  even  eager  to  be 
relieved  of  his  responsibilities,  but  after  a  while 
his  pride  awoke  and  he  began  to  intrigue  with 
and  against  O'Higgins.  He  wrote  O'Higgins 
that  he  regarded  the  action  of  the  Junta  with 
much  suspicion,  and  feared  lest  there  might  lurk 
in  it  some  concealed  treason.  These  insinuations 
were  expressed  with  a  candor  that  might  have  be- 
guiled even  a  shrewder  politician  than  O'Higgins, 
but  they  could  not  deceive  Colonel  Mackenna, 
whose  instant  solicitation  had  great  effect  on 
O'Higgins. 

No  one  knew  better  than  O'Higgins  himself  that 
he  was  not  capable  of  conducting  the  multi- 
tudinous operations  of  war,  even  against  such 
enemies  as  opposed  him.  Modest  as  to  his  own 
capabilities  and  unselfish  in  his  purposes,  he  knew 
that  other  qualities  were  needed  for  the  command 
than  those  he  possessed.  He  dallied  with  the  offer 
of  the  Junta  for  two  months.  He  was  appointed 
on  November  27,  1813,  and  it  was  not  until  Janu- 
ary 28,  1814,  that  he  finally  overcame  his  inde- 
cision and  suffered  himself  to  be  proclaimed. 
But  this  delay  was  fatal  to  the  hope  of  Chile. 
Reinforcements  arrived  from  Peru  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Brigadier  General  Gainza,  and  Elorreaga 
captured  Talca,  whence  the  Junta  had  recently 


228    THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

returned  to  Santiago,  and  shut  off  completely  all 
communication  between  the  army  and  the  Capital. 
The  Junta  realized  the  strategic  importance  of 
Talca,  and  sent  the  reserves  from  the  Capital  to  re- 
cover it,  but  they  suffered  a  complete  defeat  at  the 
hands  of  Elorreaga  ;  Talca  remained  in  the  enemy's 
possession  and  Santiago  was  left  an  unguarded 
prize,  to  any  one  who  chose  to  enter  and  take  it. 
Elorreaga  had  under  his  command  a  force  that 
was  scarcely  sufficient  to  garrison  Talca,  and 
feared  to  lose  the  advantage  that  his  present 
position  gave  the  royalist  cause  by  venturing  an 
advance  upon  Santiago ;  so  he  sent  a  message 
to  Gainza  describing  the  defenseless  condition  of 
the  Capital  and  the  necessity  of  occupying  it  at 
once.  Gainza  lost  no  time  in  obeying  the  call, 
and  set  out  immediately  on  his  march  of  five  hun- 
dred miles  to  Santiago.  But  O'Higgins  was  al- 
ready in  motion,  having  heard  the  rumor  of  the 
critical  condition  of  the  Capital,  and  when  on  the 
Srd  of  April,  Gainza  crossed  the  Maule  he  found 
O'Higgins's  entire  army  drawn  up  at  Queche- 
reguas,  between  himself  and  Santiago.  The 
march  had  been  more  disastrous  to  Gainza  than 
a  defeat  would  have  been,  but,  furious  at  having 
been  outwitted  by  the  patriots,  he  attacked  them 
fiercely,  again  and  again  throwing  his  enfeebled 
squadrons  upon  the  impromptu  fortifications  which 
O'Higgins  had  hastily  constructed.  For  two  days 
assault  followed  assault,  but  all  were  repulsed 
and  Gainza  was  compelled  to  fall  back  on  Talca, 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     229 

which  he  entered  on  the  10th  of  April.  O'Hig- 
gins'  men  were  scarcely  in  better  condition  than 
those  of  his  adversary,  but  with  the  unstinted 
supplies  from  Santiago,  they  soon  recovered  their 
equilibrium,  and  their  commander  moved  on  Talca. 
The  expectation  of  the  final  defeat  and  surrender 
of  the  royal  army  was  now  universal,  and  the  pa- 
triots considered  themselves  at  last  assured  of  vie-  ^ 
tory.  O'Higgins's  successful  manoeuvre  had  re- 
trieved all  the  errors  of  two  campaigns. 

At  this  time  the  news  reached  Chile  of  the  de- 
feat of  the  French  at  Victoria  and  of  the  dis- 
astrous actions  at  Maya  and  in  the  Pyrenees.  "~ 
There  seemed  now  no  prospect  that  King  Joseph  I 
could  much  longer  remain  in  Spain.  Ferdinand  | 
would  then  be  speedily  restored  to  his  throne. 
This  news  produced  a  profound  impression  on  the 
Chileans.  The  King's  cause  had  many  adherents 
throughout  the  Colony,  and  they  were  wonderfully 
encouraged  at  the  prospect  of  his  speedy  restora- 
tion, while  the  patriots  became  suddenly,  and  for 
a  time  utterly,  despondent.  With  Ferdinand's 
restoration  and  the  cessation  of  the  war 
in  the  Peninsula,  there  would  be  doubtless  an  army 
sent  for  the  reduction  of  Chile,  under  officers  who 
had  won  fame  in  conquering  the  armies  of  the 
great  Napoleon.  Lately,  too,  the  defeat  of  the 
Argentine  army  under  Belgrano  at  Vilcapujio 
and  Ayohuma  had  occasioned  a  feeling  of  great 
distrust  as  to  the  outcome  of  the  whole  movement 
against  the  rule  of  Spain.  This  lack  of  faith  in 


• 


230    THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

themselves  and  in  the  justice  of  their  cause  in- 
duced misgivings  that  impelled  them  to  accede  to 
the  request  of  Gainza  for  a  conference  which 
should  terminate  the  war  under  conditions  which 
he  assured  them  would  be  to  their  advantage. 
The  government  empowered  O'Higgins  and  Mac- 
kenna  to  treat  with  General  Gainza  and  his  audi- 
,  who  represented  the  royal 


I 
v 


army.  An  armistice  was  proclaimed  and  the  ses- 
sions began  at  Lircai. 

It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  either  party 
acted  for  a  moment  in  good  faith.  That  is  the 
most  charitable  explanation  of  the  attitude  of  the 
Chilean  envoys  and  of  the  concessions  that  they 
made  without  a  protest.  The  winter  was  ap- 
proaching, and  they  wished  to  avoid  a  repetition 
of  the  siege  of  Chilian  and  strengthen  themselves 
for  the  next  Spring.  Gainza  had  everything  at 
an  immediate  stake  and  any  result  short  of  an 
ignominious  surrender  was  a  gain  to  him.  More- 
over, each  was  openly  conscious  that  his  op- 
ponent knew  that  he  was  not  acting  in  good  faith, 
for  the  royal  envoys  made  out  their  own  cre- 
dentials, and  the  Chilean  envoys  were  careful  not 
to  object  to  this  irregularity.  But  the  Chileans  as 
yet  had  had  as  little  experience  in  diplomacy  as  in 
war,  and  they  had  no  Santa  Maria  or  Blest 
Gana  to  conduct  the  negotiations  for  them. 

By  the  terms  of  this  shameful  pact,  Chile  agreed 
to  acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  Ferdinand  and 
the  authority  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  Regency  ; 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     231 

the  present  system  of  government  in  Chile  was  to 
remain  as  it  was  now  constituted  until  the  good 
pleasure  of  the  Council  of  Regency,  to  which  Chile 
was  entitled  to  send  a  procurator,  should  be  ascer- 
tained ;  Talca  was  to  be  given  up  to  O'Higgins, 
the  war  was  to  cease,  and  Gainza  was  to  with- 
draw his  forces  from  Chilean  soil  within  thirty 
days;  finally  the  armistice  was  to  be  continued 
until  the  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  Viceroy  of  ^^ 
Peru.  The  only  thing  that  seemed  to  afford  a 
superficial  advantage  to  Chile  was  the  withdrawal 
of  the  royalist  army  within  thirty  days,  and  yet 
this  was  made  subject  to  an  approval  that  the 
Chilean  envoys  must  have  known  would  never  be 
given,  and  how  could  an  army  be  withdrawn  within 
thirty  days  when  it  would  take  three  months  for 
the  Viceroy's  approval  to  reach  them? 

Such  were  the  terms  of  agreement  between 
Gainza,  whose  army  was  reduced  to  the  necessity 
oT~arspeedy  surrender,  and 


his  back  on  Fortune  in  the  fatuous  hope  of  de- 
ceiving an  opponent  whom  he  had  only  to  reach 
out  his  hand  to  crush  to  powder. 

However,  the  Government  of  Chile  ratified  what 
they  called  a  treaty  and  which  was  not  even  a 
protocol  ;  Gainza  was  released  from  imminent  peril 
and  suffered  to  regain  his  hold  on  cities  that  were 
already  slipping  from  his  grasp,  until  the  whole 
of  Chile  south  of  Talca  was  again  under  his  con- 
trol. 

The  indignation  of  the  army  and  of  the  popu- 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

lace  was  beyond  all  description.  The  Capital  was 
filled  with  tumult  and  the  army  with  discontent 
and  chagrin.  Every  patriot  heart  was  rendered 
furious  by  this  base  betrayal  of  the  national  hope. 
Not  even  another  siege  of  Chilian  could  have  re- 
duced O'Higgins's  prestige  like  the  treaty  of 
Lircai.  Carrera's  name  began  to  be  mentioned 
with  regret.  The  soldiers  called  for  Carrera,  the 
^  recollections  of  the  people  reverted  to  Carrera,  but 
Carrera  had  disappeared;  on  the  4th  of  March, 
Carrera  and  his  brother  Luis  had  been  seized  by 
the  royalists  and  imprisoned  in  Chilian  as  traitors 
to  the  King,  and,  while  the  treatv_of  Lircai  pro- 
vided  for  the  release  of  all  prisoners,  a  secret 
clause  excepted  the  two  Carreras  from  the  opera- 
tion of  the  treaty. 

fThe  "Treaty  of  Lircai"  was  signed  on  the  3d 
of  May,  1814.  A  week  later  Jose  Miguel  and 
his  brother  Luis  were  permitted  to  escape  from 
Chilian,  and  on  the  14th  Carrera  presented  him- 
self before  O'Higgins  in  Talca.  They  embraced 
like  brothers  but  hatred  was  in  their  hearts.  Each 
thought  of  his  own  errors ;  Carrera  hated  O'Hig- 
gins for  Chilian  and  the  Roble,  O'Higgins  hated 
Carrera  when  he  remembered  his  own  recent  agree- 
ment with  Gainza.  Carrera  went  on  to  Santiago 
and  was  received  with  enthusiasm.  He  can  hardly 
be  blamed  of  taking  advantage  of  his  rival's  sur- 
render of  national  rights  at  Lircai,  and  he  found 
that  he  had  touched  a  vital  place  in  Chilean  hearts. 
At  once  his  ambition  was  aroused,  he  exercised 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     233 

his  most  seductive  arts,  he  headed  a  conspiracy, 
he  overthrew  the  government  on  July  23d,  1814, 
and  caused  the  appointment  of  a  new  Junta,  as- 
sociating with  himself  Uribe  and  Urzua,  by  whom 
he  was  restored  to  his  former  post  of  Commander 
in  Chief  of  the  Army. 

O'Higgins  would  have  availed  himself  gladly  of 
any  help  toward  breaking  the  treaty  of  Lircai, 
except  the  help  of  Carrera,  but  with  Carrera  he 
was  determined  to  fight.  The  country  was  di- 
vided and  the  army  was  split  in  two.  A  civil 
war  between  the  rivals  was  already  begun,  when 
the  news  came~that  Abascal  had  refused  to  ratify 
the  treaty,  and  had  sent  another  army  under 
Ossorio  to  take  over  the  conduct  of  the  war.  In 
the  face  of  a  common  danger,  Carrera  and  O'Hig- 
gins patched  up  the  appearance  of  a  peace  and 
prepared  to  withstand  the  forces  of  the  Viceroy. 
On  September  4th,  O'Higgins  resigned  his  com- 
mand in  chief  to  Carrera,  though  with  the  sepa- 
rate command  of  his  own  division.  Ossorio's  ad- 
vance from  Chilian  began,  and  already  the  rival 
chiefs  of  the  patriot  forces  were  again  at  issue 
over  the  selection  of  a  suitable  battle  ground. 

The  river  Maule  was  not  only  the  boundary 
line  between  the  provinces  of  Santiago  and  Con- 
cepcion,  but  it  was  also  the  strategical  frontier 
of  the  Capital.  The  defense  of  the  Maule  had 
been  neglected  in  consequence  of  the  struggle  be- 
tween the  two  generals,  and  there  was  now  no 
time  to  remedy  this  lamentable  neglect.  This 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

frontier  was  practically  in  the  enemy's  possession. 
Within  the  province  of  Santiago  a  second  line  of 
defense  was  formed  by  the  Cachapoal,  an  affluent 
of  the  Rapel,  but  as  the  fords  on  the  Cachapoal 
were  numerous,  and  their  defense  necessitated  an 
army  many  times  greater  than  Chile  could  possi- 
bly furnish,  Carrera  determined  to  make  his  de- 
fense at  the  pass  of  Paine,  but  O'Higgins  insisted 
on  making  an  effort  to  resist  the  enemy  at  the 
Cachapoal.  Thus  the  battle  of  Rancagua  was  in 
reality  an  act  of  insubordination  on  the  part  of 
O'Higgins.  The  first  division,  which  O'Higgins 
commanded,  comprised  only  five  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  which  was,  however,  reinforced  by  the  arrival 
of  Juan  Jose  Carrera  in  command  of  the  second 
division  on  September  26,  with  five  hundred 
mounted  militia  and  grenadiers.  Nevertheless, 
the  army  of  Ossorio  crossed  the  river  on  the  1st  of 
October  without  opposition,  and  O'Higgins  with 
Juan  Jose  Carrera  fell  back  on  Rancagua,  their 
aggregate  forces  amounting  to  about  one  thou- 
sand men.  Carrera  with  the  third  division  was 
nine  miles  to  the  north  at  Las  Bodegas  del  Conde. 
In  anticipation  of  this  event,  O'Higgins  had 
thrown  up  a  hasty  barricade  of  logs  and  stones 
and  bales  of  dried  beef,  and  had  protected  the 
entrances  to  the  town  with  what  cannon  he  pos- 
sessed, consisting  of  three  eight-pounders  and  nine 
four-pounders.  He  expected  if  driven  from  Ran- 
cagua, to  be  able  to  make  an  orderly  retreat  to  the 
position  held  by  General  Carrera,  but  Ossorio 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     235 

with  something  over  five  thousand  men  surrounded 
the  town,  and  no  passage  remained  save  through 
the  enemy's  lines.  An  assault  was  at  once  made 
on  the  town  from  all  quarters,  but  after  hard 
fighting  for  an  hour  the  royalists  drew  off  and 
prepared  themselves  for  new  operations.  The 
water  supply  was  first  cut  off  and  then  a  redoubt 
was  thrown  up  for  some  siege  guns,  which  Ossorio 
finally  placed  in  position  after  a  spirited  sally 
from  the  town,  in  which  eighty-five  of  his  men  fell, 
and  two  or  three  of  his  field  pieces  were  captured. 
Under  cover  of  the  fire  from  the  redoubt,  a  second 
assault  was  rendered,  as  fierce  and  as  fruitless  as 
the  first,  and  toward  night  a  third  assault  met  with 
no  better  result. 

Ossorio  now  despaired  of  success  and  decided 
to  draw  off  his  forces,  cross  the  Cachapoal  and 
give  up  the  field.  He  had  not  expected  such 
sturdy  resistance.  Indeed,  he  had  already  given 
the  command  to  depart,  when  he  was  dissuaded  by 
Elorreaga  and  Urrejola,  who  convinced  him  of 
the  impossibility  of  recrossing  the  Cachapoal  with- 
out destruction  in  the  face  of  such  an  enemy. 

At  midnight,  O'Higgins  despatched  a  messenger 
to  Carrera  for  ammunition.  He  added,  "If  your 
division  will  come  to  our  help  in  the  morning  the 
day  will  be  ours."  Carrera  replied,  "I  can  only 
get  ammunition  to  you  under  cover  of  a  cavalry 
charge.  In  the  morning  I  will  see." 

The  next  day,  Sunday,  October  2d,  at  day- 
break, O'Higgins  ascended  the  tower  of  the 


236     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

church  of  La  Merced,  and  gazed  expectantly  north 
to  the  road  leading  from  Las  Bodegas  del  Conde 
to  Rancagua.  Soon  afterward,  Ossorio  delivered 
a  fresh  assault  at  the  southern  side  of  the  town, 
and  O'Higgins  descended  to  the  aid  of  Captain 
Astorga,  who  was  in  command  at  that  point.  The 
ammunition  was  becoming  scanty,  and  O'Hig- 
gins directed  the  gunners  to  fire  only  when  an 
assault  was  made.  During  the  intervals  between 
assaults,  then,  the  town  was  silent,  but  the  guns 
of  the  redoubt  and  the  field  pieces  that  threatened 
the  rest  of  the  town,  kept  up  an  unceasing  fire 
upon  Rancagua.  When  this  assault  on  Sunday 
morning  was  repulsed,  a  wall  of  bodies  filled  the 
approaches  and  choked  the  guns.  At  ten  o'clock, 
a  concerted  attack  was  made  on  all  sides,  which 
was  likewise  repulsed  with  slaughter.  By  this 
time  the  condition  of  O'Higgins's  forces  was  al- 
most desperate.  Their  ammunition  was  entirely 
gone,  for  twenty-four  hours  they  had  been  without 
water,  their  mortality  was  very  great,  the  sur- 
vivors had  had  little  food  and  less  sleep,  and  still 
they  endured.  Their  disappointment  at  Carrera's 
absence  was  more  dispiriting  than  all  else.  Sud- 
denly all  their  ills  were  forgotten ;  from  the  tower 
of  La  Merced,  where  O'Higgins  had  stationed  a 
watchman,  the  cry  rang  out,  "They  come !  Viva 
la  patria !"  A  thick  cloud  of  dust  appeared 
coming  from  Las  Bodegas  del  Conde.  Soon  the 
cavalry  lines  emerged  and  an  infantry  column 
drawing  the  guns  came  into  view.  It  was  Luis 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     237 

Carrera^coming  with  the jthird  division  to  the  aid 
of  O'Higgins.  From  the  parched  throats  of  the 
patriots  a  shout  went  up  loud,  long  continued, 
which  drowned  the  roar  of  the  enemy's  guns. 
Suddenly  Colonel  Ramon  Freire,  who  was  at 
O'Higgins's  side,  touched  his  General's  sleeve  and 
pointed  to  the  south.  A  column  of  dragoons  was 
making  its  way  from  the  camp  of  the  royalists 
toward  the  ford  of  the  Cachapoal.  At  its  head 
rode  a  corpulent  horseman  with  a  white  poncho. 
For  a  moment  the  attention  of  the  group  was  di- 
verted from  Luis  Carrera.  "Who  is  the  officer 
in  the  white  poncho?"  asked  O'Higgins.  "Don 
Mariano  Qgsorio,"  replied  Freire. 

O'Higgins  had  now  no  doubt  of  victory.  Re- 
lief was  coming  and  the  enemy  was  in  flight. 
Either  was  enough  to  ensure  victory  and  both 
were  at  hand.  O'Higgins  sent  an  order  by  Freire 
for  the  dragoons  to  mount  and  make  a  sally  on 
the  south  and  west.  Captain  Ibanez  rode  forth 
with  his  detachment  of  dragoons  and  drove  the 
enemy  from  his  trenches,  cutting  them  down  as 
they  fled,  while  one  of  O'Higgins'  aides,  Flores, 
led  another  detachment  with  like  success  against 
the  trenches  on  the  west.  At  eleven-thirty,  Luis 
Carrera  arrived  with  the  mounted  militia  and  at- 
tacked the  enemy  on  the  north. 

When  Ossorio  rode  away  from  Rancagua,  he 
considered  the  battle  lost,  and  his  purpose  was  to 
escape  before  a  victorious  enemy  could  harass  his 
escort  while  crossing  the  river ;  but  Elorreaga  and 


238     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Quintanilla  refused  to  accompany  him,  and  re- 
mained undaunted  by  the  succors  then  in  sight 
coming  from  the  north.  The  third  division  con- 
sisted of  nine  hundred  and  fifteen  men,  mostly 
mounted  militia,  which  throughout  the  war  had 
emulated  the  steadiness  of  regular  troops,  and 
Luis  Carrera  had  proved  himself  in  several  actions 
a  brave  and  capable  officer.  His  reinforcement 
was  fresh,  well-mounted  and  well-armed,  sufficient 
to  turn  the  wavering  scale  decidedly  in  favor  of 
the  patriots.  Yet  almost  at  the  first  blow,  the 
third  division  turned  their  backs  to  Elorreaga's 
men  and  rode  away.  Luis  Carrera  had  at  that 
moment  received  a  despatch  from  his  brother,  the 
General-in-Chief  of  the  Chilean  army,  Brigadier 
General  Don  Jose  Miguel  Carrera,  to  withdraw 
his  troops  from  action  immediately  and  return  to 
headquarters.  Luis  uttered  an  imprecation, 
broke  his  sword  over  his  knee,  and  obeyed  the 
order  to  retire.  Then  fell  the  darkness  of  despair 
upon  the  devoted  band  thus  infamously  deserted 
in  their  dire  need.  Another  general  assault  was 
ordered  by  Elorreaga,  under  cover  of  a  furious 
cannonade  during  which  the  flagstaff  was  struck 
and  the  Red,  White  and  Blue  flag  of  the  nation 
fell.  As  soon  as  this  was  observed,  Elorreaga, 
thinking  it  was  lowered  in  token  of  surrender, 
ordered  the  guns  to  cease  firing,  but  in  a  few 
minutes  the  flag  appeared  again  over  the  tower 
of  La  Merced.  It  appeared,  but  it  no  longer 
displayed  its  folds  in  the  afternoon  breeze,  for 


THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE     239 

it  was  tied  about  the  middle  with  a  black  band. 
The  interrupted  assault  was  resumed  and  repulsed. 
Night  was  now  approaching,  Rancagua  was  a 
heap  of  ashes,  all  hope  of  succor  from  the  General- 
in-Chief  had  been  abandoned,  and  O'Higgins 
realized  that  there  was  no  longer  any  safety  but 
in  flight.  Over  four  hundred  of  his  men  were 
killed  and  all  that  remained  were  wounded.  Of 
the  militia  and  the  grenadiers  that  guarded  the 
quarter  of  San  Francisco,  Captain  Astorga  and 
three  men  alone  survived.  O'Higgins  collected 
the  maimed  and  blackened  remnants  of  his  men 
in  the  plaza.  The  enemy,  renewing  the  assault, 
were  entering  the  town  without  opposition  from 
the  east  and  south.  Only  a  few  minutes  remained 
for  escape.  O'Higgins  ordered  the  foot  soldiers 
to  mount  behind  the  horsemen,  Molina  to  lead  the 
van  and  Astorga  to  defend  the  rear,  and  sabre 
in  hand  the  shattered  troop,  two  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  in  number,  rode  out  of  Rancagua.  A 
short  but  bitter  contest  at  the  trenches  on  the 
north,  and  the  little  band  rode  over  the  battalion 
of  Captain  Sanchez  and  immediately  dispersed  in 
single  flight  for  the  city  of  Santiago.  The  battle 
of  Rancagua  was  ended,  and  the  hope  of  liberty 
was  destroyed. 


PART  V 
THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

TO  MAIPO 

CHILE    UNDER    O'HIGGINS 


THE   WAR   OF   INDEPENDENCE 

TO    MAIPO 

CHILE    UNDER    O'HIGGINS 

"Desprecio  ahora  la  muerte  como  siempre 
la  he  despreciado  en  el  campo  de  batalla. 

"O'HIGGINS." 

"I  disregard  death  to-day  as  I  have  al- 
ways disregarded  it  on  the  field  of  battle/' 

From  the  2d  of  October,  1813,  until  the  12th 
of  February,  1817,  from  Rancagua  to  Chacabuco, 
the  unfortunate  country  languished  under  the  se- 
verity of  its  reinstated  oppression.  It  was  not  a 
return  of  Colonial  life, — even  the  Spaniards  spoke 
of  this  interval  as  the  "Period  of  the  Reconquest," 
— it  was  the  desolation  of  captivity.  The  harsh- 
ness of  the  renewed  rule  of  Spain  found  its  first 
expression  in  the  exile  or  the  execution  of  the  pa- 
triots, and  in  the  confiscation  of  their  property. 
Such  was  the  bitter  penalty  meted  out  by  Spain 
in  the  nineteenth  century  to  those  whose  only  aim 
was  justice  and  equal  freedom.  Such  was  always 
the  process  by  which  sovereign  states  avenged 
themselves  upon  their  consanguineous  depend- 
encies who  sought  equality  with  their  oppressors. 

243 


244   THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Not  until  the  United  States  of  America  became 
possessed  of  the  Philippines,  did  the  happiness 
and  prosperity  of  a  Colony  become  an  object  of 
unselfish  interest  to  the  paramount  state.  The 
government  of  the  Philippines  has  influenced  the 
councils  of  the  world.  Unfortunately,  the  sub- 
jugation of  Corea  by  Japan  shows  that  that  in- 
fluence is  not  yet  imperative.  England  would, 
however,  to-day,  as  little  venture  to  undertake  a 
war  for  the  subjugation  of  Canada,  as  she  would 
V  hesitate  to  overwhelm  India  with  the  horrors  of  an- 
yy  other  conquest. 

A  few  words  will  suffice  to  describe  the  reversion 

AT  A' 

-*  of  government  in  Chile.  By  a  stroke  of  the  pen 
Ossorio  rescinded  the  great  work  of  Rozas  and 
restored  the  old  order.  The  royal  monopolies 
were  resumed  with  all  the  ancient  exactions,  paro- 
chial fees  were  renewed,  slavery  reestablished, 
public  instruction  discontinued,  and  the  Chinese 
wall  of  commercial  restrictions  re-erected.  _JEyeryr_ 
thing,  whatever  its  merit,  that  savored  of  the  in- 
surrection, was  swept  away  in  contempt.  During 
the  time  of  the  Colony,  the  Chileans  had  been  de- 
spised as  an  inferior  race  by  the  Spaniards  of 
peninsular  birth,  as  Jose  Antonio  Rojas  and  many 
others  had  discovered  when  visiting  Spain;  now, 
however,  that  the  disgrace  of  Chilean  birth  was 
augmented  with  the  taint  of  rebellion,  the  natives 
of  Chile  sank  to  a  condition  of  practical  outlawry. 
It  was  no  more  a  crime  for  a  Spaniard  to  kill 
a  Chilean  than  it  was  for  a  Spartan  to  kill  a  helot. 


•?, 
\ 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          245 

They  were  prohibited  from  possessing  firearms. 
If  a  citizen  picked  up  a  stone  in  the  street,  or  if 
he  carried  in  his  hand  a  stick  or  a  cane,  he  was 
arrested  and  flogged.  If  a  Chilean  were  found  on 
the  street  after  nine  o'clock  at  night,  he  was  im- 
prisoned for  a  year  and  his  property  seized. 
Even  the  soldiers  in  Ossorio's  army  were  made  to 
feel  the  shame  of  Chilean  birth,  and  a  majority 
of  the  royalist  soldiers  were  Chileans.  Hundreds 
of  exemplary  citizens  were  sent  to  Valdivia  and  to 
Juan  Fernandez,  to  languish  in  exile,  and  the 
prisons  of  the  Capital  and  of  Valparaiso  were  en- 
larged and  dug  deeper  that  they  might  contain 
those  suspected  of  patriotism.  Such  a  tyranny, 
so  intolerable,  and  so  indiscriminately  applied 
to  all  Chileans,  whatever  their  previous  attach- 
ment or  opposition  to  the  principles  of  independ- 
ence, consolidated  the  nation  better  than  victories 
could  have  done.  The  most  ardent  royalists,  who 
had  resented  the  triumphs  of  the  patriots,  wept^ 
bitter  tears  of  regret  when  they  remembered  the. 
wise  and  gentle  sway  of  Rozas.  Through  hu- 
miliation and  contempt,  the  cause  of  independence 
took  deep  root  in  the  Chilean  heart.  Defeat 
strengthened  the  national  spirit  and  diffused  its 
hopes  better  than  success.  Thus  Ossorio  and  his 
successor,  Marco  del  Pont,  confirmed  the  freedom 
of  Chile.  Now,  too,  for  the  first  time  there  ap- 
peared a  genuine  public  sentiment.  The  people 
of  Chile  began~^Eo~~1innkrto"make  comparisons,  to 
draw  conclusions,  to  have  purposes;  and  public 


246     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

sentiment   is   the   safeguard   of   popular  govern- 
ment. 

On  March  26,  1815,  there  arrived  in  Santiago, 
Don  Francisco  Casimiro  Marco  del  Pont,  ap- 
pointed by  King  Ferdinand  to  supplant  Ossorio. 
Marco's  father  was  a  fisherman  of  Vigo,  who  plied 
his  calling  about  the  Islands  of  Bayona,  and 
who  enriched  himself  by  carrying  on  a  contra- 
band trade  during  the  Peninsular  war.  Marco's 
brother  was  a  parasite  of  King  Ferdinand,  and 
Marco  himself  wrote  a  dozen  trivial  titles  after 
his  name,  wore  a  breastfull  of  medals,  ribbons  and 
royal  Orders,  and  became  Governor  and  Captain 
General  of  the  kingdom  of  Chile  and  President  of 
the  Royal  Audience.  For  the  Royal  Audience 
was  also  revived  by  Ossorio,  and  three  of  the 
Judges  who  served  under  Carrasco  reappear  now 
after  an  interval  of  five  years.  These  were  Jose 
Santiago  Concha,  Jose  Santiago  Aldunate  and 
Feliz  Basso  i  Berri.  To  the  titles  that  Carrasco 
wore  Marco  added  another.  "Vice-Royal  Patron 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Chile."  Marco  was  small, 
bloodless  and  nervous,  with  little,  cruel  eyes,  such 
as  Commodus  must  have  had.  The  Chileans  had 
suffered  bitterly  under  Ossorio,  but  Marco's 
finger  was  thicker  than  Ossorio's  loins.  In  him 
culminated  the  tyranny  and  cruelty  of  three  cen- 
turies of  Colonial  governors.  Ossorio  was  con- 
tent to  appropriate  all  the  proceeds  of  Colonial 
thrift  and  the  entire  income  of  the  inhabitants ; 
but  to  satisfy  his  successor's  demands,  savings, 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          247 


furniture,  family  jewels,  heirlooms,  horses,  cattle, 
and  all  movable  property  were  inadequate.  "I 
will  not  leave  the  Chileans  even  tears  to  shed," 
he  declared.  Marco  surrounded  himself  with  a 
camarilla  of  Spaniards  to  whose  rapacity  of  ex- 
tortion he  could  refuse  nothing.  The  regiment 
of  Peninsular  soldiers  that  came  to  Chile  with 
Ossorio,  which  took  a  bloody  part  in  the  battle 
of  Rancagua  and  whose  name,  "Talavera,"  be- 
came a  terror  to  the  people,  he  elevated  to  a  sort 
of  Varangian  power  in  the  state ;  while  their  hated 
leader,  Colonel  San  Bruno,  who  had  been  a  Car- 
melite friar  in  Spain,  became  the  head  of  an 
irresponsible  tribunal  which  possessed  the  same 
inquisitorial  functions  in  civil  and  political  life 
that  was  held  in  Spain  by  the  Holy  Office  of  the 
Inquisition,  now  recently  reinvested  by  Ferdinand 
with  all  the  power  and  all  the  terror  of  the  days 
of  Philip  II.  This  new  institution  was  called  the 
"Tribunal  of  Vigilance."  Eve.ry  functionary  in 
Chile,  whether  civil,  judicial  or  military,  was  sub- 
ject to  the  commands  of  this  Tribunal,  whose  Or- 
ders were  as  peremptory  as  those  of  Marco  him- 
self. No  Chilean  was  allowed  to  leave  his  place 
of  residence  without  a  special  license  signed  by 
San  Bruno.  If  any  one  were  accused,  "even  by  an 
untrustworthy  witness," — aun  por  un  testigo 
menos  idoneo, — of  communicating  with  the  exiled 
patriots,  he  was  immediately,  without  any  process 
of  law  whatever,  put  to  an  ignominious  death  by 
hanging.  If  any  one,  however  innocently,  gave 


248     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

food  or  lodging  or  other  help  or  countenance  to 
any  one  suspected  or  who  should  at  any  time 
thereafter  become  suspected  of  holding  any  cor- 
respondence, however  trifling  or  personal,  with 
any  one  in  exile,  he  also  was  to  be  put  to  death 
without  a  hearing.  From  this  Tribunal  there 
was  no  appeal.  No  case  was  ever  tried  by  this 
infernal  Court.  It  shielded  its  informers  with 
impenetrable  secrecy,  and  shared  with  unknown 
accusers  the  proceeds  of  its  confiscations.  Bur- 
glars and  bandits  and  highwaymen  exercised  their 
craft,  under  this  code,  without  danger  and  with 
abundant  and  secure  profit.  The  passes  over  the 
Cordillera  were  occupied  by  squads  of  soldiers, 
whose  orders  were  to  kill  at  once  and  without  in- 
quiry any  one  who  should  attempt  to  cross  the 
Cordillera  without  a  passport  signed  by  San 
Bruno. 

Ossqrivin  imposing  an  annual  contribution  on 
fKff  province,  had  indeed  exacted  the  uttermost 
farthing,  but,  recognizing  the  fact  that  an  arbi- 
trary imposition  might  in  some  cases  exceed  all 
possibility  of  payment,  he  had  suffered  the  full 
demand  to  be  modified  in  a  few  exceptional  cases. 
M**e&-#ssessed  the  full  amount  of  this  tax  against 
the  Collector,  who  thus  was  obliged  to  indemnify 
the  Treasury  for  such  losses  from  his  own  pocket ; 
and  as  no  Collector  would  willingly  face  a  certain 
deficit  for  which  he  was  personally  liable,  Marco 
placed  the  army  at  his  disposal  to  collect  the  full 
contribution.  The  amount  of  this  annual  con- 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS  249 

tribution,  thus  arbitrarily  added  to  all  the  pre- 
vious innumerable  exactions  of  the  government, 
amounted  to  the  fixed  monthly  sum  of  eighty-three 
thousand  dollars  or  a  million  dollars  yearly.  It 
is  inconceivable  that  a  small  country  like  Chile, 
always  sparsely  populated  and  now  for  years  dev- 
astated by  war,  whose  agricultural  population 
was  so  reduced  by  battle,  enlistment  and  exile, 
that  the  crops  rotted  in  the  fields  unreaped,  whose 
commerce  was  annihilated,  and  who  lived  veritably 
within  the  shadow  of  death,  could  satisfy  the  in- 
fernal rapacity  of  its  tyrant,  but  his  demands 
were  not  yet  completed.  On  November  2d,  1816, 
a  decree  was  published  that  the  government  would 
issue  bills,  of  denominations  between  fifty  dollars 
and  eight  hundred  dollars,  which  would  be  dis- 
tributed for  compulsory  purchase  among  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Chile,  in  agreement  with  an  ar- 
bitrary scale  of  assessment  made  by  the  govern- 
ment for  that  purpose.  It  was  well  understood 
that  such  bills  would  never  be  redeemed.  By  this 
time  the  government  had  practically  exterminated 
those  who  were  suspected  of  favoring  independ- 
ence, and  all  who  now  remained  in  Chile  were  pre- 
sumably royalists.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the 
hearts  of  the  royalists  themselves  among  the 
Chileans  longed  for  the  return  of  O'Higgins  and 
his  patriots,  that  their  only  hope  lay  beyond  the 
eastern  Cordillera  and  that  they  hastened  by  their 
fervent  prayers  the  coming  of  that,  army  whiek, 
should  indeed  be  to  them  an  army  of  deliverance? 


i 


250     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

They  themselves  realized  now  what  kind  of  gov- 
ernment had  been  that  of  Spain,  when  it  reached 
its  logical  culmination  in  the  intolerable  tyranny 
of  Marco. 

It  is  not  conceivable  that  such  measures  could 
be  enforced  without  encountering  opposition. 
There  gradually  came  into  active  existence  various 
quadrillas  or  partidas  in  different  sections  of  Chile, 
who  waged  an  irregular  war  against  the  factors 
and  agents  of  Marco.  The  most  famous  among 
the  leaders  of  this  guerrilla  warfare  was  a  young 
lawyer,  Don  Manuel  Rodriguez,  at  one  time  pri- 
vate secretary  to  Jose  Miguel  Carrera.  Rod- 
riguez conducted  his  operations  throughout  the 
rugged,  difficult  district  of  Colchagua,  between  the 
Maipo  and  the  Maule.  His  story  is  as  romantic 
as  that  of  William  Wallace,  and  the  narrative  of 
his  escapes  and  exploits  as  interesting  as  that  of 
the  Scottish  patriot.  Colchagua  was  another 
Lanarkshire,  similarly  situated  in  the  heart  of 
the  enemy's  country,  similarly  full  of  caves  and 
hiding  places  and  of  devoted  adherents.  His  men 
were  the  sturdy  shepherds  and  peasants  of  the 
foothills,  without  uniform  or  visible  organization, 
apparently  unarmed,  but  with  suitable  weapons 
hidden  where  they  could  be  easily  otTtained  when 
needed.  The  land  owners,  farmers  and  hacienda- 
dos  of  the  basin  of  the  Rapel  were  his  friends  and 
assistants,  and  often  concealed  him  when  he  was 
hard  pressed  by  his  pursuers.  San  Fernando, 
Melipilla,  Curico  and  many  another  town  of  Col- 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          251 

chagua  suffered  from  his  daring,  and  Santiago 
itself  was  the  scene  of  some  of  his  individual  ex- 
ploits, when  in  disguise  he  held  the  Governor's  stir- 
rup for  him  to  mount  his  horse,  or  posted  on  the 
walls  the  notices  of  the  reward  offered  for  his  own 
head.  While  not  always  eluding  discovery,  he 
always  evaded  pursuit,  until  his  name  became  a 
terror  to  Marco  and  his  camarilla;  the  mails  were 
seized  and  the  supplies  of  ammunition  and  money 
to  and  from  the  Capital  rarely  reached  their  des- 
tination unless  they  were  attended  with  a  detach- 
ment of  troops  strong  enough  to  defy  attack. 
Rodriguez  was  in  constant  correspondence  with 
San  Martin,  and  in  person  made  many  trips  to 
Mendoza  by  way  of  the  Maipo  pass. 

After  General  Manuel  Belgrano,  in  October, 
1813,  had  suffered  the  two  disastrous  defeats  at 
Vilcapujio  and  Ayohuma  which  put  a  decisive 
end  for  the  time  to  the  efforts  of  the  Buenos 
Ayreans  to  conquer  Alto  Peru;  and  had  fled  in 
terror  and  despair  before  the  army  of  the  Vice- 
roy, San  Martin  had  been  appointed  in  his  stead, 
and  had  succeeded  in  preventing  the  entry  of  the 
Vic^roy^s_force&-intoJJie^territory  of  Buenos  Ayres. 
Eon  Josejie  San  Martin  was  born  February  25, 
^1778,  in  the  Misiones,  to-day  a  province  of  the 
Argentine,  his  father  being  at  the  time  governor 
of  that  district.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  was 
sent  to  Spain  to  be  educated,  and  later  he  entered 
the  Spanish  army,  where  he  attained  the  rank  of 
Lieutenant  Colonel.  He  took  a  prominent  part 


i 


f 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

in  the  battle  of  Bailen  and  was  present  at  many 
actions  between  the  French  and  the  English  under 
whose  general,  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  afterwards 
the  Duke  of  Wellington,  he  won  much  praise.  In 
1811,  he^e£TreH~Trbm  the  Spanish  service  and  the 
next  year  reached  Buenos  Ay  res,  whither  the 
fame  of  his  courage  and  conduct  had  preceded 
him.  He  early  perceived  the  futility  of  invading 
Alto  Peru — the  Charcas  of  Pizarro's  time,  the 
Bolivia  of  to-day, — which  was  but  the  fringe  of 
the  Viceroy's  garment,  and  conceived  the  bold 
idea  of  striking  at  the  heart  of  the  Spanish  power 
in  America, — Lima.  The  road  to  Lima  he  was 
convinced,  lay  through  Santiago  and  not  through 
the  Charcas.  He  requested  and  obtained  the 
post  of  Governor  of  the  province  of  Cuyo,  and 
took  up  his  residence  in  the  city  of  Mendoza,  the 
capital  of  the  province.  He  had  hardly_seated 
himself  in  his  government  wheiL-the-Te^u^^es~"^unr 
Chile,  swept  over  the  Cordillera  in  irresistible 
panic,  poured  into  his  province  and  inundated 
Mendoza.  Among  them  were  the  remnants  of  the 
Chilean  army  led  by  Freire,  Astorga  and  Ibanez. 
O'Higgins  had  yielded  up  his  command,  abjured 
war,  and  returned  to  private  life;  he  accompanied 
as  a  friend  the  officers  whom  he  had  commanded 
as  a  general.  But  they  were  not  all  soldiers  who 
came ;  old  men,  terrified  women,  children  of  all  de- 
grees of  helplessness,  torn  from  their  homes  with- 
out preparation,  scantily  clad  and  unprovided 
even  with  food,  faced  the  long,  rugged 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          253 

covered  perils  of  the  dreadful  road,  from  the 
Resguardo  to  Uspallata.  For  days  and  weeks 
that  human  wave  surged  irregularly  across  the 
An  des~and  sank  exhausted  on  the  plaintTof  Men- 
ddza.  SanlVlartin  welcomed  and  succored  tKem. 

Don  Bernardo  O'Higgins  was  already  known  to 
hini  By  fame  ;  they  were  also  fellow-masons,  and  a 
strong  bond  of  patriotic  sympathy  bound  them 
closely  together.  San  Martin  realized  O'Higgins's 
worth  and  easily  persuaded  him  to  resume  his 
command.  He  then  examined  and  reviewed  the 
Chilean  troops,  and  was  impressed  with  their 
strength,  courage  and  intelligence,  though  they 
were  almost  entirely  without  discipline  as  soldiers. 
Here  were  indeed  the  men,  who,  well-trained  and 
under  a  good  leader,  could  conquer  Chile  and 

n_ess,  ambition  and  Ql?stinflryr  hnt.  hi^  only  aim  in 
life  was  the  high  and  righteous  purpose  to  de- 
stroy utterly  the  power  of  Spain  in  America,  and 
in  this  single  purpose  he  compelled  everything  to 
yield  to  his  inflexible  will,  and  destroyed  inexora- 
bly everything  that  could  thwart  or  hazard  his 
success.  When_Doji-Jose  MifflaeJ—Gan-eT 


eventually  to  Mendoza,  San  Martin  distrusted  him 
and  refused  to  recognize  him  as  General-in-Chief 
on  the  soil  of  Mendoza,  and  when  Carrera  haugh- 
tily insisted  on  recognition,  San  Martin,  without  a 
moment's  hesitation,  placed  him  under  arrest  and 
ordered  him  to  be  conveyed  to  Buenos  Ayres  under 
an  escort  of  dragoons.  There  is  no  doubt  that 


V 


254     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Mackenna  and  Irisarri,  who  had  been  exiled  by 
Carrera  after  he  regained  power  during  the  Truce 
of  Lircai,  had  convinced  San  Martin  of  his  treach- 
ery and  ambition;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
O'Higgins,  in  his  narrative  of  Rancagua,  had  con- 
demned without  limit  the  fatal  conduct  of  the  Gen- 
eral-in-Chief on  that  occasion ;  it  was  in  Mendoza 
too  that  Rozas,  after  loading  his  country  down 
with  unexampled  benefits,  had  died  an  exile,  in  or- 
der that  Carrera's  vulgar  ambition  might  be  grat- 
ified. Perhaps  no  man  was  ever  disgraced  with 
better  warrant,  and  certainly  San  Martin  was  justi- 
fied in  refusing  to  associate  with  himself  in  his  au- 
dacious purposes  a  man  whose  insane  ambition  of 
rule,  combined  with  his  inordinate  incapacity  of 
command,  would  inevitably  ruin  any  righteous  en- 
terprise. 

San  Martin  proceeded  to  organize  and  drill  the 
"Army  of  Liberation"  in  Mendoza.  The  officers 
were  also  instructed  in  the  duties  of  command. 
Every  day  there  was  an  eight  hour  drill ;  sometimes 
they  were  roused  at  night  for  a  hurried  march  of 
ten  or  fifteen  miles  to  attack  a  supposititious  en- 
emy. They  had  no  idle  moments.  Their  ac- 
coutrements and  uniforms  had  to  pass  a  daily  in- 
spection and  they  were  drilled  in  every  duty  which 
the  exigencies  of  war  and  battle  might  at  any  time 
thrust  upon  them.  The  men  of  Chile  had  never 
known  what  discipline  was,  but  no  children  ever 
hurried  to  play  at  the  noon  hour  as  these  men  has- 
tened to  take  their  place  in  the  ranks  for  a  midnight 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          255 

march,  for  they  were  more  than  soldiers, — they 
were  patriots. 

But  if  the  road  for  San  Martin  lay  from  Men- 
doza  through  Santiago  to  Lima,  Abascal  possessed 
greater  facilities  for  traversing  it  in  the  contrary 
direction  and  vindicating  the  authority  of  Spain 
over  these  Colonial  militiamen  who  now  alone,  in 
Buenos  Ayres,  withstood  the  power  of  Ferdinand, 
which  had  been  restored  in  evervother  province 
throughout  hia  American  pp^etsionsTN  The  prep- 
arations of  San\Martin  w£re  known  to  Marco  and 
to  Abascal  hirns'Uf.xAbascal  did  not  forget  the 
little  centre  of  instarrectipn  in  Mepdoza,  but  sev- 
eral revolts  in  Jfis  own  counTfyT  notably  one  that 
flared  up  spontaneously  in  Cuzco  and  required  an 
army  to  (juench,  kept  his  mind  immediately  oc- 
cupied with  Peruvian  concerns.  He  certainly  un- 
dervalued the  importance  of  the  activity  in  Men- 
doza  and  underrated  the  strength  and  character  of 
San  Martin.  As  for  Marco,  he  kept  his  army 
busy  collecting  difficult  taxes,  that  he  might  soon 
return  to  Spain  and  buy  a  title  of  nobility.  He 
no  thought  or  care  for  his  sovereign's  inter- 
ests oXfor  any  interests  but  his  own,  and  he  evi- 
dently expected  to  depart  from  Chile  before  any 
attempt  froha  Mendoza  could  disturb  his  plans  or 
threaten  his  safety. 

San  Martin,  however,  was  not  content  with  prob- 
abilities ;  he  was  deWmined  to  take  a  bond  of  fate, 
and  make  Marco  himstelf  an  instrument  in  the  per- 
fection of  his  plans.  It  was  important  to  learn 


256     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

something  of  affairs  in  Chile,  for  since  all  cor- 
respondence by  letter  was  interdicted  as  criminal, 
and  since  all  persons  who  passed  the  Cordillera 
without  San  Bruno's  passport  were  certain  to  be 
shot,  the  news  that  came  to  Mendoza  from  Chile 
was  meagre  and  untrustworthy.  There  was  in 
Mendoza  a  Spanish  merchant  named  Castillo-Albo, 
who  had  formerly  lived  in  Chile,  but  had  been  ex- 
iled by  Carrera  on  account  of  his  persistent  and 
outspoken  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Ferdinand. 
No  Spaniard  in  Chile  had  been  better  known  or 
more  highly  regarded.  His  royalism  was  as  un- 
questionable as  his  commercial  integrity.  He  was 
still  living  in  Mendoza,  where  he  was  engaged  in  a 
prosperous  business.  San  Martin  decided  to  use 
Castillo- Albo's  name  for  the  purpose  of  engaging 
Marco  himself  in  correspondence.  He  wrote 
Marco  a  letter  over  Castillo-Albo's  signature,  in 
which  he  gave  him  presumably  complete  details  of 
such  matters  in  Mendoza  as  would  probably  inter- 
est Marco,  going  to  considerable  length  in  describ- 
ing San  Martin's  affairs.  This  he  did  in  such  a 
way  as  best  suited  his  purpose  of  allaying  any 
suspicion  that  the  Governor  of  Chile  might  have  as 
to  his  warlike  preparations  and  purposes.  He  af- 
fected great  solicitude  concerning  the  King's  cause 
and,  after  lavishing  discreet  praises  on  Marco,  pro- 
claimed his  willingness  to  contribute  abundantly  to 
the  expenses  of  the  Chilean  government.  Marco 
answered  this  letter,  and  a  regular  correspondence 
ensued  between  the  Governor  of  Mendoza  and  the 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          257 

Governor  of  Chile,  from  which  the  former  gleaned 
perfectly  authoritative  information,  which  was  be- 
yond price,  and  the  latter  was  completely  hood- 
winked and  deceived.  San  Martin's  letters,  di- 
rected to  Marco  personally,  passed  easily  to  their 
destination,  and  those  of  Marco,  addressed  to  Cas- 
tillo-Albo,  were  handed  to  San  Martin  in  person. 

Meanwhile,  it  was  necessary  to  ascertain  by 
which  route  an  army  comprising  horse,  foot  and 
artillery,  could  most  easily  cross  the  Andes.  San 
Martin  burned  his  night-cap  every  morning;  he 
had  no  favorites  and  no  confidants,  but  he  was  a 
good  judge  of  mankind  and  had  always  those  about 
him  who  could  serve  him  intelligently  without  ask- 
ing questions.  Among  these  devoted  friends  was 
Don  Jose  Antonio  Alvarez  Condarco,  an  excellent 
engineer,  whom  San  Martin  despatched  in  secret  to 
report  on  the  comparative  practicability  of  the 
various  passes.  Alvarez  set  out  by  night,  trav- 
eled alone,  returned  disguised  and  reported  after 
dark  to  San  Martin,  until  he  had  ascertained  that 
none  was  suitable  for  artillery.  Only  the  pass  of 
Los  Patos  and  that  of  Uspallata  remained  unex- 
amined,  and  they  were  guarded  through  their 
whole  extent  by  detachments  of  Marco's  soldiers. 
San  Martin  was  not  discouraged.  He  was  full  of 
resources  and  was  never  at  a  loss  for  expedients, 
some  of  which,  except  to  a  casuist,  might  well  seem 
of  questionable  dignity.  He  wrote  out  a  procla- 
mation announcing  that  the  provinces  of  Buenos 
Ayres  had  declared  themselves  independent  of 


258     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Spain,  addressed  it  to  Marco,  added  the  customary 
seals,  and  sent  Alvarez,  with  the  credentials  of  an 
envoy,  to  Santiago.  He  was  to  go  by  Uspallata 
and  return  by  Los  Patos.  Such  an  impertinence 
might  well  have  cost  the  envoy  his  life.  Marco 
was  in  a  towering  rage.  Still,  an  ambassador  is 
not  to  be  put  to  death  without  a  little  reflection, 
and  Marco,  after  doubling  the  guards  at  the  en- 
trances of  the  palace,  turned  Alvarez  into  the  ante- 
chamber, while  he  made  up  his  mind  what  to  do 
with  him.  In  the  ante-chamber  Alvarez  found  two 
of  the  officers  of  the  army,  and,  deeming  his  case 
desperate,  he  made  a  peculiar  motion  with  his 
hands,  that  he  might  learn  whether  among  these 
enemies  he  might  find  a  brother.  They  responded 
to  his  gestures  and  fell  at  once  into  confidential 
conversation  with  him.  There  Alvarez  learned  the 
disgust  with  which  the  tyranny  of  Marco  had 
filled  the  officers,  and  the  hope  that  they  all  enter- 
tained of  his  speedy  departure  from  Chile.  A 
page  now  entered  to  conduct  Alvarez  back  to 
Marco.  He  had  determined  to  call  a  council  of 
war  to  try  the  daring  envoy  who  came  with  such 
suspicious  credentials.  The  Council  was  convened 
and  Alvarez  saw  with  much  satisfaction  that  his 
friends  of  the  ante-chamber  were  among  them. 
He  was  quickly  absolved  and  a  passport  was  given 
him  to  return  to  Mendoza.  He  reported  to  San 
Martin  that  both  the  Uspallata  pass  and  that  of 
Los  Patos  could  be  traversed  by  the  light  artillery. 
The  next  step  was  to  deceive  Marco  as  to  the 


CHILE  UUDER  O'HIGGINS          259 

route  that  the  Army  of  Liberation  would  take  in 
its  descent  on  Chile.  San  Martin  wrote  him,  over 
the  signature  of  Castillo-Albo,  that  San  Martin 
had  decided  to  lead  his  scanty,  ill-equipped  and 
untrained  soldiers  through  the  southern  pass  that 
enters  Chile  by  the  province  of  Concepcion,  and 
that  the  Governor  of  Mendoza  relied  greatly  on  a 
patriotic  rising  to  aid  him  in  his  attempt.  Marco 
promptly  sent  the  greater  part  of  his  army  to  the 
south,  and  disclosed  his  plans  in  his  reply  to  Cas- 
tillo-Albo. 

San  Martin  then  caused  the  report  to  be  cir- 
culated freely  that  a  squadron  of  ten  vessels  had 
been  fitted  out  at  Montevideo  with  which  a  descent 
would  be  at  once  made  upon  the  Chilean  coast, 
Talcahuano,  Nuevo  Bilbao  (Constitucion),  and 
Valparaiso  being  especially  menaced.  This  report 
was  circumstantial  and  was  sent  to  Marco,  who  at 
once  despatched  several  companies  of  regular  sol- 
diers to  each  of  the  places  indicated. 

Meanwhile  San  Martin,  in  the  character  of  Cas- 
tillo-Albo, wrote  Marco,  that  "while  San  Martin 
seems  uncertain  which  road  he  will  take,  yet  there 
is  an  increasing  likelihood  that  he  will  finally  enter 
Chile  by  way  of  Coquimbo,  as  he  understands*  that 
he  will  probably  encounter  less  resistance  from  the 
royal  troops  there  than  elsewhere."  Marco  in 
consequence  withdrew  several  additional  battalions 
from  his  troops  in  Santiago  and  sent  them  to  the 
north.  He  was  distracted  with  uncertainty.  San 
Martin  moved  and  manoeuvred  and  stationed 


260    THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Marco's  troops  as  if  he  were  their  general,  and 
from  his  cabinet  in  Mendoza,  prepared  Chile  for 
..his  own  invasion. 

On  January  21,  1817,  the  "Army  of  Liberation" 
started  on  its  journey  over  the  Andes,  with  pro- 
visions for  twelve  days.  Major  General  Soler  led 
,  ;,  the  van,  Brigadier  General  O'Higgins  the  centre, 
S  and  General-in-Chief  San  Martin  the  rear.  It 
*  comprised  three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty 
y  men.  On  the  llth  of  February,  San  Martin 
[  marched  from  Santa  Rosa,  where  he  had  rested  his 
army,  and  approached  the  hill  of  Chacabuco, 
where  the  royalist  forces  had  been  stationed  for 
the  purpose  of  opposing  him.  Chacabuco  lies 
among  the  foothills  of  the  Cordillera,  about 
twenty-five  miles  north-northeast  of  Santiago. 
The  royalist  army  numbered  twenty-five  hundred 
men,  all  that  were  left  to  protect  the  Capital  after 
the  dissemination  of  Marco's  troops  in  obedience 
to  San  Martin's  intimations  from  Mendoza.  These 
troops  had  collected  under  their  coordinate  regi- 
mental officers  and  only  the  evening  before  the  bat- 
tle, Colonel  Maroto  rode  up  with  a  commission 
from  Marco  to  conduct  the  operations.  In  the 
meantime  San  Martin  had  reconnoitered  the  ground 
and  made  his  arrangements.  His  plan  of  battle 
was  simple.  General  Soler  was  ordered  to  make  a 
detour  to  the  right  without  attracting  the  atten- 
tion of  the  enemy,  and  O'Higgins,  with  the  sev- 
enth and  eighth  battalions  of  foot  and  a'  squadron 
of  grenadiers,  was  ordered  to  cover  this  manoeuvre 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          261 

by  a  feigned  attack  in  front,  the  rest  of  the  army 
under  San  Martin  being  expected  to  sustain 
O'Higgins  and  fall  upon  the  royalists,  when  Gen- 
eral Spier  completed  his  manoeuvre  and  arrived  to 
attack  them  on  the  rear. 

The  manoeuvre  was  simple  and  ought  easily  to 
have  been  counteracted  by  falling  back  under  cover 
of  a  line  of  skirmishers  and  taking  up  a  new  posi- 
tion beyond  the  arc  which  wrould  bring  Soler  to  his 
point  of  attack,  but  Maroto  had  never  before  had 
command,  and  probably  San  Martin  realized  that 
the  simplest  strategy  would  avail  to  deceive  his 
opponents.  Maroto  had  stationed  two  hundred 
horsemen  on  the  summit  of  Chacabuco,  with  orders 
to  resist  any  attack  that  might  be  made  against 
them.  O'Higgins  had  no  instruction  to  attack 
them,  but  passed  along  the  flank  of  the  hill  with- 
out regarding  them,  until,  seeing  the  likelihood  of 
being  cut  off  by  his  advance,  they  hastily  retreated 
to  unite  with  their  main  body.  The  position  of 
O'Higgins  was  by  this  act  become  so  advantageous, 
that  he  determined  to  avail  himself  of  it  at  once 
and,  moved  by  a  sudden  inspiration,  he  conceived 
the  audacious  plan  of  converting  his  feint  into  a 
real  attack,  and  followed  by  his  grenadiers  at  a 
gallop  and  his  two  battalions  of  infantry  on  a 
quick  run,  he  dashed  against  the  ranks  of  the  roy- 
alists. He  led  only  seven  hundred  men  and  the 
number  of  the  enemy  was  estimated  at  twenty-five 
hundred,  but  at  this  very  moment  the  rear  guard 
of  San  Martin  appeared  rounding  the  base  of  the 


262    THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

hill,  and  General  Soler  swung  into  position  on  the 
enemy's  left  flank.  Before  this  concerted  move- 
ment the  royalists  broke  and  fled,  and  the  cavalry 
of  all  three  divisions  of  San  Martin's  army  followed 
them  until  exhaustion  compelled  them  to  abandon 
/  the  pursuit.  The  presence  of  San  Martin  and 
Soler  afforded  O'Higgins  great  moral  aid,  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact  the  battle  of  Chacabuco  was  won 
before  they  came  up.  Colonel  Elorreaga  was 
among  the  dead.  He  with  a  handful  of  infantry 
made  a  stand  on  a  southern  spur  of  the  hill,  and 
attempted  to  stay  the  flight  of  his  men,  but  he  and 
his  little  company  were  crushed  to  a  swift  death 
by  the  rush  of  the  infantry  that  followed  O'Hig- 
gins. 

Don  Bernardo  has  been  censured  by  some  writers 
for  his  insubordination  at  Chacabuco,  with 
which  accusation  the  success  of  his  charge  has  not 
been  duly  collated.  He  was  insubordinate  at 
Rancagua  because  he  failed  to  effect  his  purpose; 
he  had  always  in  him  the  germ  of  insubordination, 
but  on  this  occasion  he  deserves  no  adverse  crit- 
icism, for  the  event  proved  that  he  made  a  skillful 
move  at  the  proper  time.  Perhaps,  when  duly  con- 
sidered, war  is  the  only  field  of  human  activity 
where  success  not  only  sanctions,  but  gives  rules 
to,  merit.  Certainly  San  Martin  found  no  fault 
with  Don  Bernardo.  We  find  recorded  one  battle 
of  which  Chacabuco  was  an  exact  copy,  when  An- 
tigonus  led  the  army  of  the  Achaeans  against 
Cleomenes  and  his  Spartans,  who  were  posted 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          263 

among  the  hills  of  Sellasia.  Philopoemen  was  sta- 
tioned with  his  horsemen  among  the  Illyrian  foot, 
and  at  a  favorable  moment  in  the  battle,  without 
awaiting  for  the  signal  from  Antigonus,  he  ex- 
ecuted a  cavalry  charge  which  caused  the  sudden 
rout  of  the  wing  opposed  to  him  and  threw  the 
whole  Spartan  line  into  disorder.  After  the  battle 
the  charge  of  insubordination  was  made  against 
Philopoemen,  but  Antigonus  replied,  "That  young 
man  acted  like  an  experienced  commander." 

When  the  news  of  the  battle  reached  Santiago, 
borne  by  terrified  and  wounded  fugitives,  the  wild- 
est tumult  filled  the  city.  Marco  and  his  camarilla 
and  his  soldiers  fled,  and  the  road  to  Valparaiso 
was  swollen  with  a  human  flood  hurrying  to  es- 
cape. Wild  reports  filled  the  air  and  the  panic- 
stricken  refugees,  whipped  with  a  sudden  frantic 
fear,  threw  away  their  baggage,  their  clothes,  their 
money,  everything  that  could  delay  their  headlong 
flight  for  safety.  Marco  did  well  to  escape,  not 
from  San  Martin  but  from  the  people  of  the  Cap- 
ital, who  would  have  torn  him  limb-meal  if  they 
could  have  found  him.  They  filled  the  palace, 
seeking  him,  and  scattered  about  in  a  fury  of  dis- 
dain the  broken  remnants  of  his  powder-boxes,  his 
phials  of  cosmetics  and  perfumery,  his  porcelains, 
his  tapestries,  his  furniture, — but  Marco  was  gone. 

The  day  after  the  battle,  San  Martin  entered 
the  city  with  his  officers,  and  a  Cabildo  Abierto 
was  summoned,  over  which  Ruiz  Tagle  presided, 
which  offered  to  San  Martin  the  post  of  Supreme 


264     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Director.  Twice  he  refused  the  office  and  O'Hig- 
gins  was  then  chosen  unanimously  by  a  Cabildo  of 
two  hundred  and  ten  citizens  of  Chile. 

A  few  days  later  Marco,  who  had  wandered 
about  without  the  courage  or  the  wit  to  escape, 
was  captured  and  brought  to  Santiago.  He  was 
led  into  the  room  where  the  General-in-Chief,  San 
Martin,  was  seated,  and  with  a  profusion  of  cere- 
mony presented  his  little  sword,  richly  ornamented, 
to  his  conqueror,  saying  with  a  flourish,  "I  offer 
you  my  sword.  You  are  the  first  in  my  life  to 
whom  I  have  yielded  it." 

"Keep  it,"  replied  San  Martin,  disdainfully, 
running  his  eye  over  his  diminutive  prisoner,  "I 
have  no  use  for  such  a  weapon  as  that,"  and  he 
held  out  to  the  discomfited  Marco  a  copy  of  the 
proclamation  in  which  the  Governor  had  offered 
eight  dollars  apiece  for  the  heads  of  the  patriots 
and  one  thousand  dollars  for  that  of  the  Argentine 
General.  Marco  quivered  with  fear  and  stam- 
mered out  childish  excuses,  but  San  Martin  had  no 
feeling  but  contempt  for  the  man  whom  from  Men- 
doza  he  had  for  months  led  around  with  a  string 
like  a  puppet,  and  after  a  few  days  he  sent  him  to 
Buenos  Ayres,  under  guard  of  a  corporal  and  four 
men. 

There  yet  remained  several  thousand  royalist 
troops  in  Chile,  but  the  terror  of  Chacabuco  pos- 
sessed them,  and  while  the  greater  part  escaped  by 
sea  to  Lima,  Ordonez,  with  those  whom  he  could 
collect  from  the  southern  province,  shut  himself 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          265 

up  in  Concepcion,  the  only  point  on  Chilean  soil 
which  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Viceroy's  forces. 
San  Martin  reported  to  the  government  of  Buenos 
Ayres:  "In  twenty-four  days  we  have  crossed  the 
Cordillera,  defeated  the  enemy,  expelled  the  tyrant, 
finished  the  campaign,  and  given  liberty  to 
Chile." 

Still  Chile  was  not  yet  wholly  purged  of  the 
royal  soldiers,  and  while  San  Martin  returned  to 
the  Argentine,  to  complete  the  arrangements  that 
he  had  long  contemplated,  O'Higgins  besieged 
Talcahuano.  Before  doing  this,  however,  he  ap- 
pointed Don  Hilario  Quintana  as  his  deputy  in 
Santiago  and  organized  a  ministry  consisting  of 
Don  Miguel  Zanartu  for  the  Departments  of  Gov- 
ernment and  Foreign  Relations,  and  Don  Jose  Ig- 
nacio  Zenteno  for  those  of  War  and  the  Treasury, 
"with  the  same  provisional  character  as  the  post 
that  I  myself  occupy,"  said  O'Higgins,  "which 
will  terminate  with  the  final  expulsion  from  Chilean 
soil  of  the  last  relics  of  the  royal  army,  and  give 
place  to  an  administration  of  the  state  agreeable 
to  the  sovereign  will  of  the  people."  They  were 
all,  including  O'Higgins,  members  of  Lautaro 
Lodge  of  the  Gran  Reunion  Americana. 

The  time  has  now  arrived  to  consider  in  such  de- 
tail as  remains  possible,  the  activity  of  a  society 
which  exerted  immense  power  in  Chile  during  the 
period  under  present  examination.  This  society 
is  the  Gran  Reunion  Americana  to  which  reference 
has  been  made  in  earlier  pages.  While  Miranda 


266     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

was  yet  living  in  the  United  States,  and  was 
brought  into  an  admiring  acquaintance  with  Wash- 
ington, he  became  initiated  into  a  lodge  of  Free 
Masons  in  Virginia.  It  is  useless  to  speculate  on 
the  peculiar  attraction  and  influence  that  secrecy 
alone  imparts  to  such  mysterious  organizations, 
but  whatever  the  original  stimulus  in  Miranda's 
case,  and  perhaps  it  was  the  reverence  he  owed  to 
the  character  and'  achievements  of  his  great  ideal, 
he  easily  saw  to  what  valuable  uses  a  society 
founded  on  Free  Masonry  might  be  applied,  in  the 
condition  of  the  American  Colonies  of  Spain. 
There  is  something  essentially  tenebrific  about  the 
Gran  Reunion  Americana,  but  with  its  silent  pur- 
poses and  dubious  achievements  in  the  rest  of 
America  we  have  fortunately  no  present  concern. 

The  grand  lodge  was  in  London,  and  branches 
or  subordinate  lodges  were  established  through 
Spain  and  America.  Spanish  officers  of  regi- 
mental rank  were  those  as  a  rule  who  were  chosen 
members  in  that  country.  In  each  of  the  Spanish 
Colonies  was  established  a  subordinate  Lodge, 
which  in  the  case  of  Chile  was  for  several  years 
located  in  Concepcion.  It  was  named  Lautaro 
Lodge.  Rozas  was  the  Master  while  he  lived. 
O'Higgins  was  a  member  of  the  branch  Lodge  in 
Concepcion.  The  office  of  Master  was  conferred 
for  life.  The  subordinate  Lodge  was  restricted 
to  five  members  while  the  Grand  Lodge  had  only 
thirteen.  There  was  nothing  in  their  constitution 
to  prevent  priests  from  joining  the  Lodge.  In 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          267 

fact  it  was  expected  that  every  Lodge  should  have 
at  least  one  priest.  Cortes,  Fretes  and  Cienfuegos 
were  priests  who  were  members.  It  was  strictly  a 
political  organization,  and  refrained  in  its  consti- 
tution, from  the  most  incidental  reference  to  social 
or  religious  affairs.  In  1812  the  Lodge  in  Buenos 
Ay  res  was  erected  into  a  Grand  Lodge  with  juris- 
diction over  all  the  branch  Lodges  in  the  Colonies, 
and  San  Martin  became  the  Grand  Master.  This 
explains  in  part  his  influence  in  the  Argentine,  for 
Pueyrredon,  the  Supreme  Director  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  was  a  member  of  his  Lodge.  This  also  di- 
rected San  Martin's  preference  to  O'Higgins  in- 
stead of  Carrera  as  his  assistant  and  representa- 
tive. With  the  erection  of  the  Grand  Lodge  in 
Buenos  Ayres,  the  number  of  members  for  Buenos 
Ayres  and  Chile  was  increased  to  the  full  number  ^ 
of  thirteen.  K^&f 

This  was   the  drganization  which  directed  the  *  /  *  r 
movement  for  independence  in  South  America,  and  f 

educated  the  Colonists  in  the  path  of  political 
equality  and  freedom.  The  Constitution  of  the  ' 
Order  was  intended  to  perpetuate  power  in  the 
hands  of  its  members  as  being  better  fitted  for 
authority  than  those  who  had  been  less  identified 
with  the  propaganda  of  independence.  It  thus 
constituted  an  irresponsible  Junta.  Upon  their 
own  individual  members  they  diffidently  relied,  and 
lest  any  should  err  through  ignorance  or  passion, 
they  adopted  the  following  among  the  rules  of  the 
Order,  a  copy  of  which  is  before  me:  — 


268     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

"ARTICLE  9.  If  it  should  happen  that  any  one  of 
the  brothers  be  elected  to  the  chief  office  in  the  state, 
he  shall  not  decide  anything  of  importance  without 
having  consulted  the  opinion  of  the  Lodge,  unless  the 
urgency  of  the  matter  demands  prompt  action,  in 
which  case  he  shall  justify  such  action  in  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Lodge. 

"ARTICLE  11.  He  shall  not  appoint  anyone  to  an 
office  of  influence  or  importance  in  the  state,  either  in 
the  Capital  or  beyond  its  limits,  without  the  assent  of 
the  Lodge;  this  restriction  being  intended  to  apply  to 
foreign  envoys,  governors  of  provinces,  generals  in 
chief  of  the  army,  judges  of  the  Superior  Courts,  the 
highest  officers  of  the  Church,  and  includes  Regi- 
mental Line  officers  and  others  of  corresponding  rank. 

"ARTICLE  23.  When  the  supreme  government  shall 
be  in  the  charge  of  a  brother,  he  shall  not  dispose  of 
the  fortune,  honor  or  life  of  another  brother  without 
the  assent  of  the  Lodge." 

Among  its  penal  laws  was  the  following: 

"Any  brother  who  shall  reveal  the  secret  of  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Lodge,  either  by  word  or  sign,  shall  be 
put  to  death  in  such  way  as  may  be  most  convenient." 

Thus  was  erected  and  organized  this  secret  body, 
the  Lautaro  Lodge,  as  powerful  as  the  Council  of 
Ten,  as  ambitious  as  the  Society  of  Jesus,  as  mys- 
terious as  the  Vehmgerichte  of  Westphalia.  And 
yet  this  society,  sinister  as  its  constitution  appears 
and  irresponsible  as  its  decisions  must  have  been, 
was  the  seat  of  patriotism  and  the  centre  of  pop- 
ular government.  So  long  as  its  power  was  con- 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          269 

fined  to  such  men  as  swayed  its  operations  at  this 
time,  it  wrought  incalculable  benefit  to  Chile,  nor 
did  it  seek,  apparently,  to  perpetuate  its  power 
after  the  occasion  for  its  early  exercise  had  de- 
parted. During  the  earlier  part  of  O'Higgins's 
administration,  we  lose  gradually  all  indications 
of  its  existence,  and  if  perpetuated  or  revived,  it 
must  have  become  animated  with  a  changed  pur- 
pose. It  is  not  uninteresting  to  observe  that  dur- 
ing the  precise  period  of  its  known  influence  over 
Don  Bernardo  O'Higgins,  the  state  was  more  pros- 
perous, more  progressive  and  happier  than  after  it 
had  ceased  to  be  an  active  power  in  the  govern- 
ment. ; 

One  of  Don  Bernardo's  first  official  acts  was  to 
send  a  vessel  to  Juan  Fernandez  to  repatriate  the 
proscripts  of  Ossorio  and  Marco.  Another  was  to 
rescind  the  decrees  of  his  two  predecessors  and  re- 
establish the  sagacious  and  beneficent  laws  of  Don 
Juan  Martinez  de  Rozas,  which  were  destined  to 
leave  their  permanent  mark  upon  Chilean  legisla- 
tion so  long  as  Chile  should  remain  a  free  coun- 
try. But  above  all  else  in  urgent  necessity,  was 
the  prevention  of  any  repetition  of  such  division  as 
resulted  in  the  loss  of  the  battle  of  Rancagua,  and 
the  destruction  of  the  country  in  1814. 

The  royalist  party  was  one  of  these  dangers  and 
Jose  Miguel  Carrera  was  the  other.  The  royal- 
ists, in  the  absence  of  any  accredited  representa- 
tive of  the  King  of  Spain,  sheltered  themselves 
under  the  convenient  robe  of  Bishop  Rodriguez  of 


270     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Santiago.  He,  fancying  that  this  episcopal  office 
would  suffice  to  protect  him  in  any  intrigue  which 
he  might  sanction  or  promote,  ventured  to  offer 
protection  to  the  most  ardent  and  outspoken  roy- 
alists, and  was  summarily  sent  into  exile,  while 
O'Higgins  appointed  a  vicar  to  perform  his  duties. 
Jose  Miguel  Carrera  had  yet  many  personal  and 
family  friends  in  Chile  who  angrily  resented  any 
imputation  to  him  of  blame  for  the  defeat  at  Ran- 
x  cagua.  Carrera  was  himself  in  Buenos  Ayres, 
having  returned  with  an  expedition  from  the 
-  |  *  .United  States.  But  the  Lautaro  Lodge  baffled 
him  and  buffeted  him  in  a  hundred  invisible  ways, 
thwarted  his  plans,  impaired  his  credit,  destroyed 
his  prestige,  blasted  his  hopes  and  finally  at  this 
very  time,  took  Juan  Jose  and  Luis  prisoners,  and 
confined  them  in  the  jail  in  Mendoza,  Carrera  him- 
self escaping  with  difficulty  to  Montevideo.  In 
1818  Juan  Jose  and  Luis  Carrera  were  put  to 
death  in  Mendoza  by  the  orders  of  Lautaro  Lodge. 
O'Higgins  was  disappointed  in  his  purpose  to 
take  Talcahuano,  now  occupied  by  Ordonez,  al- 
though one  of  Napoleon's  Generals  in  person,  Gen- 
eral Brayer,  assisted  in  the  operations.  Don 
Bernardo  knew  well  that  there  was  yet  to  come  the 
final  test  of  strength  between  Chile  and  Peru,  that 
Chacabuco  was  not  decisive  of  the  great  question 
of  independence,  and  he  wished  to  destroy  Ordonez 
and  deprive  the  Viceroy  of  the  commodious  and 
convenient  landing  place  that  Talcahuano  would 
furnish.  For  this  urgent  reason  he  prolonged  the 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          271 

siege  until  the  early  rains  drove  him  and  his  army 
to  seek  protection  from  the  winter.  Meanwhile  he 
had  visited  the  frontiers  and  inspected  the  garri- 
sons and  defenses  of  the  towns  throughout  the 
province  of  Concepcion,  that  he  might  if  possible 
prepare  them  to  resist,  when  the  army  should  come 
that  the  Viceroy  would  almost  certainly  send  dur- 
ing the  coming  summer. 

In  the  middle  of  January,  1818,  this  long  ex- 
pected army  arrived  in  Talcahuano.  It  consisted 
of  three  thousand  four  hundred  and  seven  men 
which,  added  to  the  seventeen  hundred  already  un- 
der Ordonez,  made  a  total  of  about  five  thousand 
soldiers.  Ossorio  came  with  them,  having  a  com- 
mission from  Pezuela,  the  present  Viceroy  of  Peru, 
to  supersede  Ordonez.  Ossorio  had  received  the 
credit  for  the  royalist  victory  at  Rancagua,  and 
Elorreaga  was  no  longer  alive  to  dispute  his  claim. 
Indeed  the  Viceroy  Pezuela  wrote  to  the  war  office 
in  Madrid,  under  date  of  September  19,  1817,  "I 
have  determined  to  put  in  chief  command  Brigadier 
General  Ossorio,  whose  military  skill  and  experi- 
ence are  well  confirmed  by  the  general  opinion, 
since  to  him  is  due  the  glory  of  having  entirely 
subjugated  that  country  in  the  brief  period  of 
sixty  days  and  restored  it  to  submission." 

Not  without  difficulty,  humiliation  and  delay, 
had  Pezuela  succeeded  in  fitting  out  another  ex- 
pedition. Chile  had  long  since  come  to  be  the 
granary  of  Peru.  The  need  of  Chilean  wheat  to 
support  the  population  of  Lima  had  put  an  end  to 


272     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

the  absurd  restrictions  formerly  imposed  on  inter- 
colonial commerce,  and  the  annual  amount  of 
wheat  sent  to  Lima  from  Chile  amounted  to 
twenty-three  hundred  tons.  Pezuela  computed  at 
eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  yearly  the  trade 
between  the  two  countries.  Now  the  inhabitants 
of  Lima  were  suffering  from  hunger  and  the  Vice- 
royal  treasury  was  empty.  New  taxes  and  con- 
tributions only  increased  the  distress  of  the  inhab- 
itants without  bringing  any  but  inconsiderable  re- 
turns to  the  Viceroyal  exchequer.  In  this  emer- 
gency, Pezuela  entered  into  an  agreement  with  ten 
of  the  merchants  of  Lima,  by  which  he  was  to  re- 
ceive certain  sums  which  he  deemed  adequate  to  his 
purpose,  and  in  return  for  which  he  was  to  permit 
them  to  introduce  into  Chile  without  duty,  sugar 
and  tobacco  and  a  few  other  specified  articles  of 
commerce,  to  an  amount  immensely  exceeding  the 
sums  that  they  furnished  for  his  necessities.  Per- 
haps the  difference  between  what  he  received  and 
what  he  promised  the  syndicate,  represents  not 
only  his  urgent  need  but  also  the  risk;  to  them  that 
the  speculation  involved.  This  contract  is  dated 
November  27,  1817. 

San  Martin  had  now  returned  to  Chile  and  re- 
sumed his  duties  as  Commander-in-Chief.  So  long 
as  there  existed  any  uncertainty  as  to  where 
Pezuela's  army  might  land,  the  Argentine  general 
remained  in  Valparaiso  with  about  two  thousand 
men,  that  he  might  be  present  to  repel  any  attempt 
of  the  enemy  upon  that  port.  When  therefore  he 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          273 

was  assured  that  Ossorio  had  gone  to  Talcahuano, 
to  incorporate  with  his  army  the  soldiers  of  Or- 
donez, San  Martin  despatched  an  aide  to  O'Hig- 
gins  ordering  him  to  proceed  without  unnecessary 
precipitation  to  Talca,  that  he  might  destroy  all 
stores  that  could  be  serviceable  to  Ossorio,  and 
take  measures  to  remove  the  inhabitants  of  the 
southern  districts  either  to  Santiago,  where  the 
army  could  defend  them,  or  to  the  uplands,  where 
they  would  be  protected  by  the  asperities  of  access. 
Ossorio  had  no  wish  to  delay  long  in  Talcahuano 
or  to  consume  much  time  in  reducing  the  towns  of 
the  south.  The  facility  with  which,  in  1813,  these 
communities  had  admitted  the  garrisons  and  pre- 
tensions of  either  party,  had  shown  him  that  the 
quickest  way  to  occupy  the  country  was  to  defeat 
the  army  of  San  Martin  and  O'Higgins,  as  he  had 
no  doubt  whatever  of  being  able  to  do.  But  how- 
ever eager  he  was  to  consummate  his  mission,  he 
found,  almost  as  soon  as  he  had  landed,  that  it 
would  be  necessary,  before  advancing  to  meet  the 
patriots,  to  conciliate  the  hostility  of  Ordonez,  for 
the  two  generals  had  had  prior  acquaintance,  and 
Ordonez  was  unwilling,  even  at  the  command  of 
the  Viceroy,  to  yield  the  conduct  of  the  campaign 
to  a  general  who  spent  his  time  on  his  knees  be- 
fore the  Virgin  of  the  Rosary,  and  who  depended 
for  success  in  battle  on  her  intercession  rather  than 
on  his  own  skill,  and  on  the  discipline,  courage  and 
endurance  of  his  soldiers.  However,  after  some 
stormy  interviews  which  permanently  embittered 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

their  relations,  the  spirit  of  discipline  finally  pre- 
vailed, and  Ossorio  led  the  army  northward. 
'  Meanwhile  on  the  12th  of  February,  the  first  an- 
niversary of  Chacabuco  and  the  two  hundred  and 
seventy-seventh  anniversary  of  the  founding  of 
Santiago  by  Don  Pedro  de  Valdivia,  O'Higgins  is- 
sued the  proclamation  of  the  independence  of 
Chile. 

In  Talca,  San  Martin  joined  O'Higgins,  and 
being  firmly  persuaded  of  his  superiority  in  disci- 
pline as  in  numbers,  for  the  forces  of  the  patriots 
amounted  to  sixty-six  hundred  men,  he  withdrew 
from  Talca  at  the  approach  of  Ossorio,  and  left 
the  line  of  the  Maule  entirely  unguarded.  It  was 
his  intention  not  merely  to  defeat  Ossorio,  but  to 
annihilate  him.  The  patriot  army  retired  to  San 
Fernando,  and  Ossorio  crossed  the  Maule,  not  with- 
out surprise  and  some  misgivings  at  encountering 
no  resistance  whatever  at  this  important  point. 
Under  the  continued  influence  of  this  suspicion,  he 
advanced  with  great  caution,  throwing  out  small 
scouting  parties  in  all  directions,  and  endeavoring 
to  fathom  the  tactics  of  his  opponent.  This  care- 
ful advance  was  distasteful  to  Ordonez,  who  wished 
to  push  on  rapidly  toward  the  enemy  and  come  as 
soon  as  possible  to  a  decisive  encounter,  and  the 
animosities  of  Talcahuano  were  renewed  between 
the  two  royalist  generals.  Still  Ossorio  continued 
to  proceed  with  the  utmost  circumspection.  He 
was  confirmed  in  his  purpose  by  the  fact  that  his 
mounted  scouts  were  in  almost  continuous  touch 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          275 

with  the  flying  squadrons  of  San  Martin,  under 
the  command  of  Colonel  Freire. 

The  circumstances  under  which  Ossorio  had 
crossed  the  Maule  and  occupied  Talca  in  1814* 
were  almost  exactly  parallel  to  those  which  at- 
tended his  present  passage  of  the  same  river  on 
the  9th  of  March,  1818,  but  he  was  conscious  of  a 
new  spirit  that  now  actuated  his  opponents  and  a 
new  will  that  now  dominated  them.  In  1814,  he 
delayed  his  advance  until  the  rival  factions  of 
Carrera  and  O'Higgins,  exhausted  with  the  strife 
of  civil  war,  might  fall  a  ready  prey  into  his  hands ; 
now  he  knew  that  a  united  and  disciplined  army 
was  before  him,  while  dissension  was  busy  in  his 
own  ranks.  He  had  also  observed  that  a  new 
spirit  pervaded  the  country,  for  in  his  passage 
northward  from  Concepcion,  his  former  welcome 
had  now  changed  to  a  sullen  silence  which  was  full 
of  menace. 

When  San  Martin  knew  that  the  enemy  had 
crossed  to  the  north  bank  of  the  Maule,  he  moved 
his  army  from  San  Fernando  and  deploying  his 
light  cavalry  in  an  extended  line,  he  advanced  to 
within  a  few  miles  of  Curico.  Here  he  called  in 
his  mounted  scouts  and  having  assured  himself 
that  Ordonez  had  taken  possession  of  Curico  with 
his  grenadiers,  lancers  and  dragoons  of  the  fron- 
tier, he  determined,  before  coming  to  an  engage- 
ment, to  await  the  arrival  of  the  main  body  of  the 
royalists  which  lay  near  Talca.  In  the  early 
morning  of  March  14th  his  scouts  reported  that 


276     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

the  cavalry  that  had  occupied  Curico  had  with- 
drawn during  the  night  across  the  Lontue,  where 
they  were  now  holding  the  fords  of  that  river. 
San  Martin  at  once  marched  his  troops  to  the  bank 
of  the  Lontue  and  on  the  morning  of  the  15th,  di- 
rected Freire,  with  two  squadrons,  to  force  one  of 
the  fords  and  bring  him  word  of  Ossorio.  Freire 
crossed  the  ford  in  the  face  of  a  severe  musketry 
fire  and  advanced,  driving  before  him  the  grena- 
diers who  had  defended  the  ford,  and  who  fell  back 
in  order  until  they  rested  on  the  advancing  division 
of  General  Ordonez,  before  which  Freire  retired, 
recrossed  the  ford  and  reported  to  San  Martin  that 
Ossorio  was  not  yet  come  up. 

On  the  16th,  San  Martin  crossed  the  Lontue, 
having  ascertained  during  the  night  that  Ossorio 
had  advanced  to  Camarico  with  his  whole  body  as 
soon  as  he  knew  of  the  affair  between  Freire  and  the 
division  of  Ordonez,  but  when  San  Martin  had 
crossed  without  encountering  resistance,  he  found 
that  Ossorio  had  withdrawn  southward  again  as 
soon  as  he  had  learned  that  there  had  been  noth- 
ing but  a  trifling  skirmish.  San  Martin  had  now 
reached  a  position  of  considerable  advantage, 
where  he  was  enabled  not  only  to  defend  the  road 
to  the  Capital  and  to  threaten  Ossorio,  but  where 
he  could  avail  himself  at  last  of  a  road  through 
the  hills,  by  which  he  hoped  to  cut  off  the  retreat 
of  the  royalists.  But  Ossorio  had  already  taken 
fright  and  realizing  suddenly  the  disadvantage  of 
his  position,  had  withdrawn  in  haste  toward  Talca 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          277 

San  Martin,  finding  that  his  enemy  was  evading 
him,  marched  his  whole  force  by  the  hill  road  as 
rapidly  as  possible  to  cut  Ossorio  off  from  Talca 
and  despatch  him  at  once,  but  night  approached 
before  he  could  reach  the  enemy.  At  nightfall  his 
advance  guard  of  cavalry  came  into  the  main  road 
leading  to  Talca,  in  time  to  have  a  brush  with  the 
rear  guard  of  Ossorio,  but  a  general  engagement 
was  refused,  and  the  patriot  cavalry,  after  losing 
a  few  men,  drew  off,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the 
infantry.  It  was  dark  night,  March  19,  1818, 
when  the  patriots  encamped  at  Cancha  Rayada 
about  two  miles  from  Talca,  where  Ossorio  lay. 

Ossoriojjilly  realized  Ms  position.  Before  him 
lay  a  well-equipped  and  well-disciplined  army  ex- 
ceeding his  own  by  fifteen  hundred  men,  eager  for 
battle  and  under  a  skilful  leader;  behind  him  was 
the  Maule  which  he  must  cross  in  the  presence  of 
the  enemy.  San  Martin  had  finally  succeeded  in 
his  purpose  of  forcing  a  battle  where  there  was  no 
hope  of  escape  for  the  royalists  if  they  were  beaten. 
And  now  a  strange  thing  happened.  At  Ran- 
cagua,  Ossorio  had  deserted  his  army  and  fled 
across  the  Cachapoal  with  a  brigade  of  dragoons. 
At  Cancha  Rayada,  instead  of  trying  to  save  him- 
self by  flight  as  he  could  still  do  by  deserting  his 
soldiers,  he  decided  to  attack  San  Martin  at  once. 
He  divided  his  troops  into  three  divisions,  one  un- 
der Ordonez,  another  under  Colonel  Latorre  and 
the  third  under  Primo  de  Rivera,  and  directed 
them  to  march  in  silence  and  fall  upon  San  Martin. 


278     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

It  was  now  eight  o'clock  at  night,  and  the  Chi- 
lean general  had  given  the  command  to  shift  the 
camp.  The  necessary  pickets  and  sentinels  hav- 
ing been  posted,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Arcos  had 
moved  the  first  division  behind  a  ditch  that  had 
been  hastily  dug  to  protect  the  new  position,  and 
was  transferring  the  second  division  to  their 
place  when  shots  were  heard  and  the  pickets  fell 
back;  before  the  advancing  royalists.  At  once  the 
discharge  of  muskets  became  general,  the  Chileans 
extinguished  their  fires  and  fell  into  position, 
while  several  companies  of  infantry  were  posted 
quickly  on  the  flanks  and  rear  for  protection 
from  attack.  Ordonez,  charging  with  his  column 
on  the  place  where  he  had  seen  the  Chilean  in- 
fantry encamped  at  nightfall,  was  disconcerted  at 
finding  them  removed,  and  while  he  wavered,  un- 
certain what  direction  to  take,  a  furious  discharge 
of  musketry  at  short  range  decimated  his  ranks 
indeed,  but  showed  him  also  where  his  enemies 
were  stationed.  He  wheeled  about  and  attacked 
the  second  division  fiercely.  The  utter  desperation 
of  the  royalists  and  their  compact  and  unbroken 
formation  gave  them  an  immense  advantage  over 
the  Chileans.  In  the  darkness  these  could  not  see 
their  officers,  and  the  incessant  firing  drowned 
the  commands  which  were  necessary  to  control  and 
direct  them.  Still  they  stood  fast  and  fired  into 
the  night  and  prayed  for  day. 

Meanwhile   the   first   division   had  escaped   dis- 
persion.    Their    Commander,    Colonel    Quintana, 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          279 

had  ordered  them  to  preserve  their  present  forma- 
tion until  he  returned  from  headquarters,  whither 
he  went  for  instructions,  and  as  he  had  not  re- 
turned, the  commanders  of  the  several  battalions 
agreed  to  designate  Don  Gregorio  de  las  Heras 
as  their  leader  until  Quintana  came.  It  was  now 
midnight,  and  Las  Heras  determined  to  save  his 
division  from  destruction  by  a  retreat.  He  there- 
fore formed  his  battalions  into  a  square  with  the 
artillery  in  the  front  to  preserve  it  from  attack, 
and  a  few  squadrons  of  cazadores  to  cover  the  rear. 
His  division  consisted  of  thirty-five  hundred  men. 

San  Martin,  O'Higgins  and  their  officers  did 
not  fail  in  their  duty  to  their  troops  on  this 
dreadful  occasion,  but  the  darkness,  the  noise  and 
the  general  bewilderment  rendered  ineffectual  all 
their  efforts.  They  had  the  good  fortune  to  ex- 
tricate a  battalion  of  infantry  and  some  detached 
bodies  of  mounted  grenadiers  with  which  San  Mar- 
tin succeeded  in  reaching  San  Fernando,  where 
he  was  gratified  to  learn  that  Las  Heras  was 
bringing  north  the  first  division  almost  intact. 

The  confidence  of  San  Martin  and  O'Higgins 
in  the  unerring  success  of  the  campaign  had  been 
imparted  to  the  residents  of  Santiago,  who 
thought  only  of  how  they  could  fitly  celebrate  the 
coming  victory,  but  when,  two  days  after  Cancha 
Rayada,  the  terror-stricken  fugitives  began  to 
pour  into  the  Capital,  shrieking  aloud  that  the 
army  was  destroyed,  a  sudden  despair  fell  upon  the 
city.  Escape  was  the  only  thing  thought  of. 


280     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

The  Delegate  Director  Cruz  endeavored  in  vain 
to  quiet  the  panic  and  restore  confidence  to  the 
city.  Already  the  terrified  men  and  women  began 
to  stream  out  of  the  city  toward  the  Cordillera 
as  they  had  done  after  Rancagua;  already  the 
public  funds  had  been  taken  from  the  Treasury 
and  loaded  on  wagons  for  instant  removal.  The 
terror  of  Ossorio  and  of  Marco  was  upon  the  city, 
and  they  expected  momentarily  to  see  the  royalist 
troops  enter  under  their  dreaded  commander.  In 
this  sudden  panic  one  man  only,  the  Cabildo  felt, 
could  save  the  city.  That  man  was  Manuel 
Rodriguez,  the  young  lawyer,  the  secretary  of 
'  Carrera,  the  patriot  of  Colchagua,  the  hero  and 
idol  of  the  Capital.  Being  invited,  he  assumed 
command,  and  so  great  was  the  confidence  of  the 
people  in  him  and  so  judicious  his  directions,  that 
/  by  the  time  San  Martin  and  O'Higgins  arrived 
[  with  reassuring  news  of  the  army,  the  city  was 
\  quieted  and  Rodriguez  had  collected  a  body  of 
old  men  and  boys  and  was  drilling  them  for  the 
\defence  of  the  Capital.  He  had  imbued  them  with 
ihis  own  confidence  and  given  them,  to  sustain  the 
desperation  of  their  courage,  the  title  of  "The 
Hussars  of  Death."  (Los  Husares  de  la  Muerte.) 
By  the  27th  of  March,  the  Chilean  army  had 
reached  the  effective  strength  of  forty-five  hun- 
dred men,  and  lay  encamped  a  few  miles  from 
Santiago,  awaiting  the  approach  of  Ossorio  from 
Talca. 

Ossorio  had  suffered  considerable  loss  at  Cancha 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          281 

Rayada  and  a  rest  of  a  few  days  in  Talca  was 
indispensable.  On  the  24th  he  left  Talca  and 
marched  north.  He  knew  that  the  first  division 
of  the  Chilean  army  had  retreated  in  perfect  or- 
der, and  that  the  Chilean  fugitives  would  speedily 
rejoin  their  regiments,  and  he  therefore  advanced 
with  the  same  caution  as  before,  reaching  San 
Fernando  without  opposition  on  the  28th.  Here 
his  advanced  guard  of  some  two  hundred  cavalry 
met  a  detachment  of  sixty  mounted  grenadiers 
led  by  Captain  Cajaravilla,  who  immediately  at- 
tacked them  and  drove  them  back  in  some  dis- 
order and  with  the  loss  of  forty  men.  On  the  I 
30th  Ossorio  occupied  Rancagua,  and  two  days  | 
later  crossed  the  Maipo  by  the  ford  of  Lauquen.  I 
Here  he  halted  until  the  4th  of  April,  when  having  * 
reconnoitered  the  country  and  satisfied  himself 
of  the  strength  and  position  of  the  Chilean  army, 
a  council  of  war  was  held  and  the  decision  reached 
to  take  up  a  position  on  the  hills  about  Las  Casas 
del  Espejo,  after  detaching  a  body  of  horse  to 
hold  the  road  to  Valparaiso  and  cover  their  re- 
treat in  the  event  of  their  being  compelled  to 
retire.  His  position  was  skilfully  chosen,  his  ar- 
tillery well  placed,  his  men  in  good  condition  and 
his  forces  nearly  if  not  quite  equal  to  his  op- 
ponents and  full  of  the  confidence  with  which  their 
success  at  Cancha  Rayada  had  inspired  them. 
The  Chileans  on  the  other  hand  knew  that  the 
supreme  hour  had  arrived  when  they  were  to  over- 
come the  last  obstacle  that  yet  remained  between 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

them  and  the  realization  of  all  their  hopes.  They 
drew  their  determination  to  conquer,  as  well  from 
the  past  as  from  the  future.  The  recollection 
of  Marco  incited  them  as  well  as  the  hope  of 
liberty. 

Ossorio's  centre,  protected  by  his  main  bat- 
tery, occupied  the  adobe  buildings  of  Espejo,  his 
right  under  Ordonez,  and  his  left  under  Primo 
de  Ribera,  were  stationed  on  the  adjoining  hills 
and  all  was  in  readiness  when  the  Chileans  ap- 
proached. San  Martin  commenced  the  battle  by 
advancing  a  battalion  of  Grenadiers  from  the 
right  wing  to  attack  Ribera,  who  in  reply  opened 
on  it  with  four  small  field  pieces,  under  cover  of 
which  his  cavalry  advanced  to  a  counter  attack ; 
the  Chilean  troops  drew  together  into  close  order 
and  awaited  them.  At  almost  the  same  moment 
the  Chilean  guns  opened  fire  on  Ribera's  cavalry 
and  threw  them  into  disorder,  and  the  Chilean 
Grenadiers  charged,  driving  them  up  the  hill, 
where,  however,  they  were  received  by  such  a  vol- 
ley of  musketry  that  they  promptly  recoiled. 
Being  reinforced,  they  returned  again  to  the  at- 
tack, and  finally,  after  fierce  hand  to  hand  fight- 
ing, succeeded  in  driving  the  enemy  from  the  hill 
which  they  seized  and  occupied.  On  the  other 
wing,  Colonel  Freire  withstood  the  charge  of 
Ordonez's  whole  body  of  infantry  supported  on  the 
flanks  by  the  Royal  Lancers  and  the  Arequipa  dra- 
goons ;  and  suddenly  taking  the  offensive,  broke 
them  by  a  sharp  attack  and  dispersed  them  in  all 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          283 

directions.  In  the  centre,  Ossorio's  battery  re- 
pulsed an  attack  of  the  Eighth  battalion  (which 
O'Higgins  had  led  at  Chacabuco),  and  drove  them 
from  the  field  almost  entirely  destroyed.  The  Sec- 
ond battalion  repeated  the  charge,  at  a  run,  with 
fixed  bayonets,  but  owing  to  the  rugged  character 
of  the  ground,  they  lost  their  formation  and  with 
it  their  confidence.  While  they  wavered,  the 
Chileans  who  had  driven  Ribera  from  his  position 
opened  a  destructive  fire  on  Ossorio's  flank  from 
the  neighboring  hill,  while  San  Martin  ordered  up 
the  reserves  under  Quintana.  Under  cover  of  this 
support,  the  officers  of  the  Second  battalion  re- 
stored order  among  their  men,  who  advanced  up 
the  hill  in  the  face  of  Ossorio's  battery  and  of  a 
furious  musketry  discharge  from  his  infantry. 
At  this  time  Freire,  having  put  Ordonez  to  a  com- 
plete rout,  delivered  a  cavalry  attack  on  the  other 
flank.  These  concerted  and  almost  simultaneous 
attacks  in  front  and  on  each  flank,  threw  the 
royalists  into  complete  confusion  and  they  gave 
way  and  fled. 

When  Ribera  had  been  driven  from  his  position 
on  the  left  wing,  he  had  quickly  restored  order  to 
his  ranks  and  was  on  his  way  to  join  Ossorio 
when  he  met  Ordonez  coming  from  the  other  wing 
with  all  that  he  could  collect  of  his  men.  To- 
gether they  approached  the  Casas  del  Espejo, 
where  the  final  charge  was  taking  place,  but  they 
were  too  late.  Already  the  fugitives  from  the 
field  apprised  them  that  all  was  lost.  Still  they 


\ 


284     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

advanced,  hoping  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  the 
day,  but  after  a  bitter  resistance  they  were  com- 
pelled to  yield  their  swords  to  Las  Heras.  Fif- 
teen hundred  of  the  royalists  lay  dead  on  the  field 
of  battle,  and  twenty-five  hundred  were  taken 
prisoners,  among  them  one  hundred  and  ninety 
officers.  Seven  hundred  only  succeeded  in  making 
their  escape  to  Concepcion,  and  Ossorio  was  the 
first  to  arrive  at  that  grateful  harbor  of  refuge. 
The  Chilean  loss  was  about  one  thousand  killed 
and  wounded.  O'Higgins  was  sick  in  bed  at  San- 
tiago with  septic  fever  following  the  wound  he 
had  received  at  Cancha  Rayada,  but  he  insisted 
on  rising,  and  in  fact  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
battle  field  in  time  to  take  part  as  a  simple  trooper 
in  the  final  charge,  under  command  of  his  old 
friend,  Colonel  Ramon  Freire. 

Thus  ended  the  battle  of  Maipo,  which  sealed 
the  independence  of  Chile  and  prepared  that  of 
Peru.  San  Martin  was  perhaps  the  only  man  in 
Chile  whose  heart  was  not  stirred  to  its  depths  by 
exultation.  To  him  it  meant  merely  another 
rung  of  the  ladder  that  led  up  to  Lima.  At 
Cancha  Rayada  he  had  lost  a  pawn,  at  Maipo 
he  had  taken  a  rook.  Vicuna-Mackenna  said  well 
of  San  Martin,  "He  was  not  a  man,  but  a  mis- 
sion." 

Jose  Miguel  Carrera  was  the  first  Chilean  to 
recognize  the  fact  that  the  sea  was  the  natural 
highway  of  Chile,  and  after  Rancagua  he  went 

1 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          285 

from  Buenos  Ayres  to  the  United  States  to  pro- 
cure aid  in  fitting  out  a  maritime  expedition 
against  Ossorio.  This  he  succeeded  in  doing,  and 
with  four  vessels  he  reached  Buenos  Ayres  on 
February  9th,  1817,  three  days  before  Chacabuco. 
In  Buenos  Ayres  he  fell  into  the  snares  of  the 
Lautaro  Lodge  and  his  great  plans  were  frittered 
away  gradually  and  irretrievably  as  we  have  al- 
ready seen. 

San  Martin  himself  realized  how  important  was 
the  command  of  the  sea  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
undertaking,  and  on  the  very  field  of  Chaca- 
buco, O'Higgins  replied  to  the  felicitations 
of  his  friends,  "This  victory  and  a  hundred 
more  will  be  without  effect  unless  we  control  the 
sea." 

On  the  17th  of  February,  1817,  five  days  after* 
Chacabuco,  O'Higgins  sent  to  the  United  States  * 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  buy  or  build  ves- 
sels suitable  for  use  in  Chilean  waters,  and  at  the 
same  time  he  sent  Don  Jose  Antonio  Alvarez  Con- 
darco  to  England  with  a  like  mission.  He  also 
directed  that  the  Spanish  flag  be  kept  flying  over 
Valparaiso,  and  a  few  days  later,  the  Spanish 
brigantine  Aguila  unsuspectingly  entered  the  port 
and  was  surprised  and  captured.  O'Higgins  put 
one  of  his  cavalry  officers,  Raymond  Morris,  an 
Englishman,  in  command,  with  orders  to  bring 
home  the  exiles  from  Juan  Fernandez.  In  Octo- 
ber, the  Aguila  captured  the  Perla  of  sixteen 
guns  and,  before  the  year  1817  closed,  the  frigate 


286     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Minerva  and  the  brigantine  Santa  Maria  de  Jesus 
were  added  to  the  little  fleet. 

tip  to  this  time  the  Chileans  had  avoided  the 
sea.  There  were  no  coast  cities  of  any  impor- 
tance ;  Concepcion  was  a  military  post,  Valdivia  a 
fort,  Valparaiso  a  fishing  hamlet;  the  Chilean 
towns  occupied  the  middle  plateau  and  the  popu- 

aon  was  agricultural.  Morris  was  taken  from 
the  cavalry  to  command  the  Aguila,  and  Manuel 
Blanco-Encalada  was  now  detached  from  the  ar- 
tillery to  take  charge  of  the  fleet.  He  had  served 
a  year  as  a  midshipman  in  the  Spanish  navy,  and 
he  was  now  advanced  to  the  rank  of  Rear- Admiral 
in  command  of  the  Chilean  fleet.  There  were  not 
a  dozen  men  in  Chile*  who  could  distinguish  be- 
tween the  mizzen  chains  and  the  spanker,  and  yet, 
when  once  the  Chileans  were  on  the  sea,  they  found 
themselves  at  home,  and  prize  after  prize  was 
brought  into  Valparaiso,  whose  cargo  was  applied 
to  the  conduct  of  the  war,  while  the  vessels  them- 
selves helped  to  form  the  fleet  with  which  Lord 
Cochrane  began  that  amazing  career  in  the  Pa- 
cific whose  exploits  are  among  the  most  mar- 
velous feats  of  naval  warfare. 

On  October  10,  1818,  Rear-Admiral  Blanco- 
Encalada  left  Valparaiso  with  a  squadron  com- 
prising the  San  Martin  of  sixty  guns,  the  frigate 
Lautaro,  forty-six  guns,  the  corvette  Chacabuco, 
twenty  guns,  and  the  brigantine  Araucano,  six- 
teen guns.  The  news  had  come  to  Chile  that  a 
fleet  of  twelve  Spanish  vessels  was  coming  with 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          287 

an  army  of  three  thousand  men  to  renew  the  war.  j 
Concepcion  was  still  held  by  Colonel  Sanchez  and  : 
was  thought  to  be  the  port  to  which  this  fleet  was 
directed.     The  warning  came  almost  too  late  to 
be  of  service,  for  the  Maria  Isabel  and  three  other 
vessels  had  just  arrived  at  Concepcion,  when  the 
San  Martin  and  the  Lautaro  entered  the  bay  and 
began  the  attack  under  close  fire  from  the  guns 
of  the  four  ships  and  of  all  the  land  batteries. 
The  battle  lasted  several  hours,  but  at  the  end  the  | 
Chileans,  having  sunk  one  of  the  Spanish  vessels, 
captured  the  others  and  sailed  out  of  the  bay  in 
triumph.     The    Chacabuco    and    Araucano    had 
equal  success,  and  in  thirty-eight  days  the  Chi- 
lean squadron  sailed  into  Valparaiso,  with  eight 
prizes  filled  with  a  Spanish  army,  with  all  kinds 
of  military  stores  and  with  several  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  in  gold.     After  this  victory  the  Span-  I 
ish  vessels  disappeared;  from  Chilean  waters. 

When  Rear-Almiral  Blanco-Encalada  returned 
to  Valparaiso,  where  Zenteno  had  established  the 
department  which  conducted  the  operations  of  the 
navy,  he  found  that  Lord  Cochrane  had  arrived 
and  would  take  over  the  command  of  the  Chilean 
Navy  with  the  rank  of  Vice-Admiral.  In  this  ap- 
pointment no  one  concurred  with  heartier  goodwill 
and  more  genuine  enthusiasm  than  Blanco-En- 
calada himself.  He  at  once  yielded  up  the  com- 
mand of  the  fleet,  declaring  that  he  would  be  proud 
to  serve  under  so  illustrious  a  commander.  He 
retained,  however,  his  rank  of  Rear-Admiral. 


288     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

The  Vice-Admiral  immediately  hoisted  his  pen- 
nant on  the  Maria  Isabel,  now  christened  anew  as 
the  O'Higgins,  and  proceeded  to  overhaul  the  fleet, 
which  was  finally  ready  for  s,e^  January  14,  1819. 

Lord  Cochrane  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Earl 
of  Dundonald.  His  brilliant  achievements  in  the 
Napoleonic  wars  would  have  added  lustre  to  the 
fame  of  Nelson.  He  was  as  daring  as  his  coun- 
tryman John  Paul  Jones,  and  as  fortunate.  Sir 
James  Mackintosh  said  of  him,  "He  is  such  a 
miracle  of  nautical  skill  and  courage,  his  adven- 
tures have  been  so  romantic,  and  his  achievements 
so  splendid,  that  no  Englishman  can  read  them 
without  pride  that  such  things  have  been  done  by 
his  countryman." 

When  Alvarez  Condarco  reached  England,  as 
agent  for  Chile,  the  great  fame  of  Cochrane  had 
apparently  reached  its  apogee,  but  the  Chilean 
agent  pointed  out  to  the  eager  enthusiasm  of  the 
Scotchman,  a  new  field  of  glory  and  other  laurels 
that  awaited  him  in  the  Pacific,  and  as  Amadis 
offered  his  single  aid  to  King  Perion  of  Gaul,  so 
Cochrane,  relying  simply  on  his  own  genius,  came 
to  the  help  of  Chile  against  Spain. 

Over  two  centuries  had  passed  since  the  great 
sea  captains  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ploughed  with 
hostile  keel  the  tranquil  waters  of  the  Pacific. 
During  that  period  no  one  had  ventured  to  chal- 
lenge the  proud  claim  of  Spain  to  the  undisputed 
sovereignty  of  the  Western  Ocean.  The  pirates 
of  Tunis  and  Algiers  might  destroy  or  capture 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          289 

her  vessels  in  the  Mediterranean  or  ravage  with 
impunity  the  coasts  of  Miircia  and  Alicante;  Es- 
sex might  burn  Cadiz,  Rooke  capture  Gibraltar 
and  Peterborough  seize  Barcelona ;  England  might 
blockade  every  Atlantic  port  and  prey  upon  the 
defenseless  commerce  of  Spain ;  but  Callao  and 
Guayaquil  were  tranquil  and  secure  from  any 
hostile  invasion,  and  in  the  Pacific  at  least  her 
commerce  was  free  from  menace.  That  tran- 
quillity was  now  to  be  disturbed,  that  security 
to  be  attacked,  by  the  one  country  which  she  had 
most  despised  as  a  Colony  and  which  less  than 
two  years  earlier  lay  prostrate  and  gasping  under 
the  heel  of  her  merciless  despotism. 

The  attack  on  Callao  by  the  Chilean  fleet  filled 
the  world  with  amazement  and  revealed  to  Spain 
her  precarious  tenure  of  her  Colonies.  The  Chi- 
lean fleet  swept  the  whole  American  coast  from 
Acapulco  in  Mexico,  to  Valdivia  in  the  south  of 
Chile,  collecting  prizes  in  every  harbor,  and  cap- 
turing every  vessel  that  ventured  abroad,  while 
the  Spanish  war  ships  cowered  under  the  guns  of 
Callao  and  Panama.  One  of  these  many  prizes, 
the  Motezuma,  was  laden  with  merchandise  and 
money  to  the  amount  of  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  Thus  the  funds  were  furnished  by  Spain 
to  liberate  Peru,  in  much  the  same  way  as  in  the 
war  of  the  American  Revolution,  the  Colonies  sup- 
ported their  armies  by  the  sale  of  prizes  and  mer- 
chandise captured  from  the  British  vessels.  Ad-, 
miral  Cochrane  was  a  daring  and  fortunate  com-j 


290     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

\/ mander,  and  in  nothing  was  he  more  fortunate 
than  in  the  boldness  and  intelligence  of  the  seamen 
who  manned  his  ships,  and  of  the  soldiers  whom 
he  led  to  victory. 

/  Valdivia  was  conceded  to  be  the  best  fortified 
harbor  on  the  Pacific.  The  Spaniards  boasted 
-that  it  was  the  strongest  post  in  the  world.  Gib- 
raltar had  been  captured,  but  Valdivia  was  im- 
pregnable. A  narrow  entrance  from  the  sea  gave 
admittance  to  a  deep  and  commodious  harbor,  at 
the  further  bend  of  which,  fifteen  miles  from  the 
entrance,  lay  the  city.  This  harbor  was  com- 
pletely surrounded  and  dominated  by  nine  forts, 
four  on  the  southern  and  four  on  the  northern 
side,  while  one,  the  largest  of  all,  constituted  the 
citadel.  Each  was  guarded  by  a  ditch  and  a  para- 
pet, behind  which  arose  the  steep  cliff  in  which 
the  works  had  been  partly  excavated  and  partly 
constructed.  Each  fort  was  separated  from  its 
neighbor  by  an  interval  of  one-fourth  to  one-half 
a  mile  of  rugged  precipice,  to  which  the  forest 
trees  clung  thick  and  wild,  while  the  adjoining 
forts  were  connected  by  covered  galleries  spanning 
these  intervals,  so  narrow  that  but  one  person  at 
a  time  could  pass,  and  commanded  at  entrance 
and  issue  by  twenty-four  pound  guns.  Thus  each 
fort,  while  being  impregnable  to  attack  from  with- 
out, could  defend  itself  perfectly  from  any  assault 
from  its  neighbor,  if  an  enemy  should  succeed 
in  effecting  an  entrance  there. 

For  two  centuries  the  convicts  from  Spain  and 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          291 

Peru  had  expiated  their  crimes  and  exhausted 
their  lives  in  continuous  labor  on  the  erection  of 
this  system  of  forts,  which  should  secure  the 
southern  entrance  to  the  Pacific  from  any  attack 
that  the  nations  of  the  earth  could  prepare  against 
it.  These  fortifications  were  garrisoned  with 
eleven  hundred  men,  and  through  their  embrasures 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  cannon  denounced  the 
immediate  annihilation  of  any  vessel  that  might 
enter  the  harbor  with  hostile  intent. 

Nothing  of  this  was  unknown  to  Lord  Cochrane, 
and  yet  he  determined  to  capture  Valdivia  and  its 
forts;  as  he,  himself  said,  "when  unexpected  proj- 
ects are  energetically  put  in  execution,  they  al- 
most  invariably  succeed."  To  his  genius  nothing 
seemed  impossible,  and  having  tested  the  intelli- 
gence and  intrepidity  of  his  soldiers,  he  knew  that 
they  were  worthy  to  execute  his  daring  purpose. 

At  about  four  o'clock  of  the  afternoon  of  the 
3d  of  February,  1820,  the  Admiral  with  two  small 
ships  sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Valdivia  and  an- 
chored just  within  the  bay.  At  once  the  alarm 
gun  from  Fort  Ingles  rang  over  the  water  of  the 
quiet  harbor,  and  Fort  Ingles  opened  fire  on  the 
two  Chilean  vessels. 

It  seems  incredible,  but  it  is  nevertheless  an 
undeniable  fact,  that  the  artillerymen  in  the  Span- 
ish service  had  never  been  trained  to  take  aim  at 
the  object  they  sought  to  hit.  A  general  direc- 
tion was  all  that  they  were  taught  to  attain,  and 
they  fired  less  with  the  intention,  than  with  the 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

hope,  that  their  shot  might  hit  the  mark.  It  was 
winged  with  a  prayer,  but  the  prayer  was  seldom 
heard,  for  not  one  shot  in  a  hundred  could  take 
effect  at  a  distance  of  one  hundred  yards.  Lord 
Cochrane  was  familiar  with  this  peculiarity  of  the 
Spanish  artillerymen.  He  had  calculated  his 
chances  at  different  distances  and  took  his  risk 
willingly.  So  now,  disregarding  the  fire  from  the 
fort,  he  ordered  two  boats  to  be  lowered  and 
manned,  to  carry  a  detachment  of  soldiers  ashore. 
By  this  time  the  other  forts  had  opened  fire,  and 
when  the  landing  party  approached  the  shore 
under  Fort  Ingles,  they  found  themselves  opposed 
by  a  company  of  seventy-five  men,  who  had  de- 
scended the  steep  slope  of  the  outer  wall  and  now, 
from  behind  the  parapet,  opened  a  hot  fire  from 
close  range  on  the  approaching  Chileans.  These, 
however,  in  a  few  minutes  reached  the  shore  and, 
dashing  through  the  ditch,  they  climbed  the  scarp 
and  the  parapet  slopes,  to  find  that  their  enemies 
were  clambering  up  the  wall  of  the  fort  on  their 
hands  and  knees  to  escape.  Those  above  lowered 
some  ladders  to  hasten  their  ascent,  and  withdrew 
them  when  once  their  comrades  had  reached  the 
ramparts.  Major  Beauchef,  who  commanded  the 
assault,  watched  them  as  they  disappeared  through 
the  crenelles.  Then  he  took  off  his  hat,  and,  rais- 
ing his  voice,  called  out,  "Thank  you,  gentlemen, 
for  your  courtesy  in  showing  the  way." 

By  this  time  all  the  Chileans  were  collected  at 
the  base  of  the  wall,  and  Major  Beauchef  divided 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          293 

them  according  to  the  prearranged  plan  into  three 
bodies,  which  were  by  separate  ways  to  scale  the 
height  between  Fort  Ingles  and  Fort  San  Carlos, 
and  then  unite  in  a  general  attack  on  Fort  Ingles. 
By  this  time  Fort  Ingles  had  six  hundred  men 
ready  to  repel  the  attack,  while  the  assailants  con- 
sisted of  two  hundred  and  fifty  soldiers,  whom 
Freire  had  lent  Cochrane  for  this  purpose,  and 
some  of  the  artillerymen  from  the  fleet. 

Night  fell  while  the  Chileans  were  climbing  the 
rough  ascent  under  the  cover  of  the  trees.  No 
one  of  the  enemy  offered  them  the  slightest  re- 
sistance. The  Spaniards  had  lost  sight  of  them 
and  had  forgotten  the  ancient  aphorism  of  war 
that  your  enemy  is  never  so  near  to  you  as  when 
he  has  disappeared.  After  an  hour's  hard  work 
the  Chileans  were  mounted  nearly  to  the  level  of 
the  fort.  There  lay  a  stretch  of  open  rock, 
smooth  and  sloping  dangerously  to  the  bay,  be- 
tween them  and  their  object.  This  little  transit 
of  two  hundred  yards  must  be  made  in  the  full 
view  of  the  fort.  Beauchef  stood  in  the  shade  of 
the  trees  and  measured  with  his  eye  the  distance. 
Along  that  perilous  dome  the  path  lay,  where  a 
single  misstep  might  precipitate  a  score  of  men 
to  destruction,  and  where  they  would  be  absolutely 
helpless  against  the  fire  from  the  fort.  "For- 
ward, in  perfect  silence!"  he  said,  and  stepping 
out  from  the  shelter,  he  dashed  across  the  inter- 
vening space  followed  by  all  his  men.  A  sudden 
cry  of  alarm  from  the  sentinels,  and  a  vague 


294     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

rattle  of  musketry  that  did  no  harm,  saluted  the 
little  band,  who  in  a  moment  swarmed  up  the 
battlements  and  leaped  into  the  fort.  Here  the 
resistance  was  speedily  overcome.  The  Spaniards 
fled  in  the  confusion  of  terror.  Some  escaped  by 
the  gallery  to  Fort  San  Carlos,  some  leaped  from 
the  crenelles  and  were  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  rocks 
below,  while  the  rest  surrendered  in  instant  fear. 
Leaving  twenty  men  to  guard  the  fort,  Beauchef 
led  the  rest  along  the  covered  gallery  and  entered 
Fort  San  Carlos.  Here  he  encountered  no  effec- 
tive resistance,  and  Forts  Amargas  and  Choroco- 
mayo  also  yielded  with  unexpected  facility  to  his 
attack.  At  the  entrance  to  Fort  Corral,  he  ex- 
pected resistance,  but  though  two  hundred  Span- 
iards remained  there,  they  offered  scarcely  an  ob- 
jection to  his  entrance,  and  at  once  gave  them- 
selves up  as  prisoners.  At  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  all  the  five  forts  on  the  southern  shore 
of  the  harbor  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Chileans, 
and  by  nine  o'clock,  the  garrisons  of  the  four 
remaining  forts  on  the  north  shore  had  fled  in 
terror,  before  Lord  Cochrane  had  had  time  to  send 
a  party  to  assault  them. 

In  Callao,  he  cut  out  the  Esmeralda  from  under 
the  fire  of  three  hundred  guns  and  carried  her 
away  in  triumph.  In  the  harbor  of  Callao  lay 
the  merchant  fleet  of  Spain,  protected  by  the  guns 
of  the  shore  batteries  and  guarded  from  attack 
by  a  line  of  battle  ships  which  consisted  of  the 
Esmeralda  jrf  forty-four  guns,  a  corvette,  two 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          295 

brigantines,  two  sloops  of  war?  three  large  mer- 
chant vessels,  which  had  been  converted  into  armed 
cruisers,  and  twenty  gunboats.  The  whole  har- 
bor was  moreover  protected  with  large  floats  fas- 
tened together  with  heavy  chains,  making  a  boom 
which  effectually  closed  the  harbor,  and  prevented 
entrance  except  on  the  north,  where  an  opening 
had  been  left  wide  enough  for  the  passage  of 
single  vessels.  Outside  of  the  cordon  lay  the 
U.  S.  S.  Macedonia  and  H.  B.  M.  S.  Hyperion. 
Lord  Cochrane  prepared  his  plan  of  operations, 
selected  from  his  squadron  the  men  who  should 
execute  it  and  drilled  them  at  night  until  they 
understood  their  individual  duties.  On  the  night 
of  November  5th,  1820,  he  signaled  all  the  Chi- 
lean vessels  to  leave  the  bay  and  pass  outside 
beyond  San  Lorenzo,  with  sufficient  ostentation  of 
departure  to  persuade  the  Spaniards  that  the 
whole  Chilean  fleet  had  put  to  sea.  All  lights 
were  extinguished  on  his  flagship,  the  O'Higgins, 
to  which  the  men  had  been  transferred  who  were 
to  assist  in  the  operations  of  the  night,  and  an  hour 
before  midnight,  twelve  boats  put  off  from  the 
O'Higgins  in  two  parallel  lines,  a  boat's  length 
apart.  Lord  Cochrane  in  person  headed  one  line 
and  Captain  Guise  of  the  Lautaro  the  other.  As 
the  boats  rowed  silently  toward  the  entrance  of 
the  harbor,  they  passed  under  the  bow  of  the 
Macedonia  whose  officers  prevented  their  sentinels 
from  challenging  them,  while  in  a  low  voice  they 
wished  them  good  luck  and  a  happy  result.  The 


296     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

sentinels  on  the  Hyperion,  however,  hailed  them 
noisily,  and  continued  to  challenge  them  until  they 
had  all  passed.  At  twelve  o'clock  the  expedition 
penetrated  the  harbor  and  reached  the  line  of 
Spanish  gunboats,  and  a  few  minutes  afterward 
they  were  alongside  the  Esmeralda,  without  any 
effective  alarm  having  been  given  to  the  enemy. 
Lord  Cochrane  himself  was  the  first  to  board  the 
Esmeralda,  mounting  by  the  main  chains  on  the 
port  side,  and  despatching  the  single  sentinel  on 
deck,  while  Captain  Guise  climbed  aboard  by  the 
forechains  to  starboard.  In  a  moment  the  deck 
of  the  Esmeralda  was  thronged  with  Chilean  sea- 
men. By  this  time  the  alarm  had  been  given  and 
the  crew  of  the  Esmeralda  rushed  on  deck.  A 
hand  to  hand  fight  followed,  while  the  Spanish 
officers  from  the  quarter  deck  directed  a  noisy  but 
vague  fire  against  the  boarders,  and  the  Spanish 
seamen,  seeking  refuge  from  the  invaders  in  the 
forecastle,  opened  a  fire  of  small  arms  which 
aroused  an  indescribable  tumult  throughout  the 
bay.  The  gunboats  and  the  launches  within  the 
harbor  discharged  their  broadsides  without  defi- 
nite purpose,  and  the  great  guns  of  the  shore 
batteries  boomed  into  the  night.  Vessels  began 
moving  about  and  the  gunboats  filed  up  on  either 
side  of  the  Esmeralda  and  opened  fire  at  close 
quarters.  By  this  time  the  decks  of  the  vessel 
were  awash  with  blood,  some  of  the  boarding 
party  were  killed,  and  several  others,  including 
Lord  Cochrane  himself,  wounded.  They  now  cut 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          297 

the  cables  and  hoisted  the  topsails  and  top  gallant 
sails  and  the  Esmeralda  got  gradually  under  way 
and  drew  out  of  the  harbor,  being  all  the  time 
under  fire  from  the  gunboats,  and  with  her  decks 
raked  fore  and  aft  by  the  fire  from  her  own  crew 
imprisoned  in  the  bow  and  stern.  The  bay  was  a 
whirlwind  of  fire,  and  the  Macedonia  and  Hy- 
perion, displaying  neutral  lights,  at  the  miz- 
zen  peak  and  at  the  jib  boom,  raised  their 
anchors,  set  their  topsails,  and  sailed  out  of  this 
pandemonium  of  noise  and  wandering  danger. 
Cochrane  at  once  made  the  same  signal  of  neu- 
trality, and  with  the  O'Higgins,  followed  the 
American  and  British  ships  out  of  the  bay.  Before 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  Esmeralda  and 
two  gunboats  which  she  had  captured,  were  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  guns  of  Callao.  Of  the  crew  of 
the  Esmeralda  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  were 
killed  and  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  taken 
prisoners.  The  Chilean  loss  was  eleven  killed  and 
thirty  wounded.  On  the  following  day,  Captain 
Downs  of  the  Macedonia,  felicitated  Lord  Coch- 
rane on  the  success  of  his  enterprise  and  added, 
"Never  was  a  more  brilliant  achievement  accom- 
plished with  greater  dexterity."  This  exploit 
filled  the  Viceroy  with  unutterable  dismay,  and 
shook  the  empire  of  Spain  to  its  very  founda- 
tions. A  hundred  other  achievements,  less  spec- 
tacular, indeed,  but  not  less  heroic,  filled  the 
early  annals  of  the  Chilean  navy  and  formed 
the  traditions  under  which  Prat  and  Latorre  and 


298     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Condell  learned  the  great  lessons  of  heroism  and 
strategy. 

Meanwhile,  Chile  was  adapting  herself  to  her 
changed  condition,  and,  under  the  easy  rule  of 
^  O'Higgins,  was  resuming  the  agricultural  and 
commercial  life  of  earlier  years.  Npjw_at_last^^he 
began  to  experience  the  revived  benefits  of  Rozas's 
rule,  and,  elated  with  the  realization  of  their  per- 
manence, saw  no  cloud  as  yet  on  her  horizon.  To 
be  sure,  Sanchez  continued  to  occupy  Concepcion 
until  the  capture  of  the  Maria  Isabel  put  an  end 
to  his  hopes  of  succor  from  Spain,  and  until  the 
successful  assault  of  Valdivia  destroyed  his  au- 
thority in  the  south  of  Chile,  after  which  he  took 
his  departure  from  the  soil  of  the  Republic;  in 
the  mountainous  regions  of  Arauco,  too,  an  or- 
ganized band  of  assassins  and  robbers  covered 
themselves  with  the  name  of  Ferdinand,  and  under 
Benavides,  Pico  and  the  two  Pincheiras,  ravaged 
the  remote  districts  and  waged  a  war  of  murder 
and  fire  on  the  scattered  inhabitants  of  that  diffi- 
cult district ;  but  these  were  never  sufficient  to  form 
a  menace  to  their  independence,  and  but  for  the 
great  preparations  for  the  Conquest  of  Peru, 
would  doubtless  have  been  quickly  exterminated. 
But  every  effort  of  the  government  was  employed 
in  the  preparation  of  the  army  which  was  to  pro- 
ceed to  Peru  on  its  beneficent  mission  of  libera- 
tion. This  enterprise  would  have  seemed  impossi- 
ble to  anyone  who  was  not  under  the  immediate  in- 
fluence of  San  Martin.  The  nation,  devastated 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          299 

by  hostile  armies  for  ten  years,  was  tired  of  war 
and  exhausted  by  repeated  sacrifices.  Without 
the  prizes  which  her  ships  acquired  and  the  glory 
that  they  reaped  on  the  sea,  neither  the  resources 
nor  the  enthusiasm  of  the  country  could  have  sus- 
tained the  effort  of  preparation.  But  finally  the 
road  was  opened  to  Lima,  and  the  army  was  ready 
to  embark.  San  Martin  led  his  troops  aboard  the 
fleet  and  sailed  north. 

With  the  departure  of  the  army,  thus  equipped 
by  Chile  with  a  heroism  and  self-sacrifice  rarely 
paralleled  in  the  world's  annals,  the  further  history 
of  San  Martin  passes  beyond  our  present  horizon. 
We  must  return  and  consider  the  progress  of  the 
civil  administration  of  Chile  under  the  virtual 
Dictatorship  of  O'Higgins. 

On  February  16,  1817,  Don  Bernardo  O'Hig- 
gins was  unanimously  elected  Supreme  Director  of 
Chile  in  a  Cabildo  Abierto  held  in  Santiago,  and 
composed  of  two  hundred  and  ten  Chileans.  This 
election  was  enthusiastically  confirmed  by  ihe 
whole  nation  without  dissent,  and  for  six  years 
O'Higgins  continued  to  rule  Chile.  After  Chaca- 
buco,  San  Martin  returned  to  the  government  of 
his  province,  meditating  constantly  upon  the  best 
and  surest  way  to  achieve  his  ultimate  purpose, 
the  destruction  of  the  King's  authority  in  America. 
Nothing  less  could  satisfy  his  lofty  soul.  This 
was  his  only  ambition.  He  had  refused  with  dis- 
dain the  magnanimous  offers  of  the  Chileans  to 
place  their  government  in  his  hands.  He  was  ab- 


300     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

solutely  without  any  personal  ambition  of  power, 
and  seemed  almost  to  resent  the  invitation  of 
Chile  as  an  aspersion  of  his  motives.  Chile  was 
to  him  the  highway  to  Lima,  and  after  Chacabuco, 
his  path  lay  through  the  sea.  For  the  present 
there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  in  Chile,  and 
he  returned  to  Mendoza  revolving  in  his  mind  the 
means  of  prosecuting  his  great  purpose. 

O'Higgins's  presence  being  required  with  the 
army  at  Talcahuano  and  Concepcion,  where  Or- 
donez lingered  and  perpetuated  the  threat  of  inva- 
sion, the  Director  named  Colonel  Quintana  to  exer- 
cise the  delegated  duties  of  the  chief  office  in  San- 
tiago and  went  in  person  to  conduct  the  operations 
in  the  southern  province.  Quintana  was  expected 
to  attend  to  the  simple  routine  duties  of  govern- 
ment, under  the  constant  control  of  the  Lautaro 
Lodge,  but  the  real  seat  of  government  was  in  the 
Chilean  camp  before  Talcahuano,  and  the  Minister 
of  War  was  at  the  army  headquarters  with  O'Hig- 
gins.  Even  the  perfunctory  duties  of  Delegate 
were,  however,  beyond  Quintana's  skill  to  conduct 
without  friction ;  he  was  moreover  an  Argentine, 
and  the  preference  thus  shown  to  a  foreigner  was 
annoying  to  Chilean  pride.  Strong  in  the  con- 
scious support  of  the  Lautaro  Lodge,  he  was  little 
careful  to  respect  the  sensibilities  of  the  Chileans, 
and  attempted  to  introduce  into  civil  life  something 
of  the  austere  control  of  military  authority. 
Quintana  had  many  of  the  qualities  of  Governor 
Carrasco,  and  when  at  the  command  of  the  Lau- 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          301 

taro  Lodge  he  laid  his  hand  on  the  person  of 
Manuel  Rodriguez,  and  imprisoned  him  under  the 
accusation  of  treason,  the  temper  of  the  people 
gave  way,  and  they  demanded  Quintana's  immedi- 
ate separation  from  command.  Rodriguez  was 
released  and  Quintana  removed.  Luis  de  la  Cruz, 
also  a  member  of  the  Lautaro  Lodge,  was  ap- 
pointed Delegate  Director.  Soon  afterward, 
Ossorio  landed  at  Talcahuano  and  the  war  re- 
commenced with  the  result  that  we  have  described. 
During  this  period  of  fourteen  months,  O'Higgins's 
only  title  to  office  was  the  one  conferred  upon  him 
by  the  two  hundred  and  ten  members  of  the  Ca- 
hildo  Abierto  of  Santiago. 

While  the  uncertain  result  of  the  final  contest 
impended  over  Chile,  everyone  acquiesced  in  the 
necessity  of  avoiding  any  issue  that  might  create 
division  among  the  people  and  renew  the  animosi- 
ties that  had  brought  about  the  defeat  at  Ran- 
cagua.  No  Congress  was  convened,  no  constitu- 
tion drawn  up.  The  Cabildo  of  Santiago,  through 
which,  at  the  time  of  the '  provisional  Junta, 
Rozas  had  promulgated  his  laws,  represented  to 
O'Higgins  their  willingness  to  assist  him  by  con- 
ferring an  additional  legality  upon  his  decrees, 
but  the  Supreme!  Director  rejected  their  offer  with 
disdain.  In  this  he  was  doubtless  justified,  but 
after  the  total  defeat  of  the  Spaniards  at  Maipo 
the  agitation  for  a  constitution  was  carried  on 
openly  and  widely. 

In    fact    O'Higgins's    power   was    now   become 


302     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

greater  than  that  of  any  of  the  Colonial  governors 
had  been.  There  was  no  stated  limit  to  his  au- 
thority, and  no  Royal  Audience  to  act  as  a  check 
upon  his  will.  Public  and  private  rights  had  no 
other  security  than  his  personal  sense  of  justice, 
and  the  liberty  of  Chile  no  other  guaranty  than 
his  patriotism  and  the  rectitude  of  his  intentions. 
Such  guaranties  were  insufficient  for  the  future, 
and  the  only  result  for  the  present  seemed  to  be 
a  change  of  masters.  The  spirit  of  liberty  was 
very  strong  in^Chilfr,  arid  was  r^ 


^  _ 

until  it  was  assured  by  a  Constitution,  which 
should  confirm  public  liberty  and  private  rights, 
and  inscribe  the  powers  of  the  government  within 
due  bounds. 

,       O'Higgins  recognized  the  temporary  character 
of  his  officer     He~kiiew~that  his  appRTrntrneTit-was 
em,    jujrjie_jlso^new  that  until 


Viceroy  was  expelled  from  Peru,  the  freedom  of 
Chile  was  subject  to  permanent  menace.  TmV 
was  not  only  true  but  urgent,  and  he  realized  that 
the  achievement  of  this  great  purpose  must  not 
be  left  to  the  chance  of  caprice,  or  to  the  uncer- 
tainty of  popular  election.  If  the  necessity  of 
an  absolute  authority  was  manifest  between 
Chacabuco  and  Maipo,  that  necessity,  though  less 
generally  evident,  was  as  real  now  that  a  more  re- 
mote peril  threatened  the  independence  of  Chile. 
Not  for  a  moment  could  the  future  of  Chile  be 
assured,  until  the  Spanish  power  in  Peru  was  de- 
stroyed,  and  the  more  pressing  became  the  de- 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          303 

mands  of  the  people,  the  more  evident  was  their 
blindness  to  their  peril. 

In  this  emergency  he  had  recourse  to  an  ex- 
pedient which,  while  safeguarding  his  country,  he 
must  have  known  would  result  in  an  injustice,  per- 
haps an  injury,  to  himself.  It  is  impossible  to 
believe  that  he  was  moved  by  the  vulgar  desire 
to  prolong  his  authority  for  a  few  brief  months 
at  the  ultimate  price  of  the  loss  of  prestige  and 
the  diminution  of  his  fame.  Glory  was  al- 
ways dear  to  the  heart  of  O'Higgins,  but  even 
glory  yielded  to  the  magnanimity  of  his  pa- 
triotism. He  knew  that  he  must  yield  at  least 
an  apparent  obedience  to  the  will  of  the  people, 
but  he  was  determined  that  his  country  must  be 
rescued  from  peril.  He  therefore  announced  in 
a  public  proclamation  dated  May  18,  1818,  that 
"inasmuch  as  the  present  moment  is  manifestly 
inopportune  for  the  election  of  a  Congress,  the 
Supreme  Director,  pending  such  election,  will  ap- 
point a  commission  of  seven  individuals  to  prepare 
and.  present  a  provisional  constitution,  which  may 
give  direction  to  the  deliberations  of  the  Congress 
when  elected,  and  shall  serve  in  the  meantime  as 
the  organic  law  of  the  country." 

On  the  8th  of  August,  1818,  the  commission 
submitted  their  protocol  of  a  Constitution,  which 
was  published  by  the  government,  and  accepted 
by  the  municipal  corporations  of  Chile  on  the  23d 
of  October.  The  first  article  of  this  Constitution, 
thus  accepted  by  the  country,  after  affirming  the 


304     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

sovereignty  of  the  people,  declared  Don  Bernardo 
O'Higgins  to  be  the  supreme  head  of  the  nation, 
allotting  no  term  to  his  office  and  imposing  no  valid 
restrictions  upon  his  power.  The  public  clamor 
was  for  the  time  quieted  by  this  subterfuge,  and  be- 
fore it  could  again  become  importunate,  Rear  Ad- 
miral Blanco-Encalada,  like  another  Duilius,  led 
into  Valparaiso  on  the  17th  of  November,  a  whole 
/  fleet  of  Spanish  vessels.  Then  followed  the  glori- 
•  ous  campaigns  of  Lord  Cochrane,  which  swept  the 
Spanish  fleets  from  the  Pacific  and  opened  a  pas- 
sage to  Lima  for  the  army  of  Chile.  This  glory 
inundated  the  nation.  It  is  impossible  to  describe 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  whole  people,  as  the  news 
came  of  success  after  success  without  a  disaster 
to  Chilean  arms.  They  lived  in  a  continuous 
ecstasy  of  triumph. 

To  O'Higgins  belongs  the  glory  of  the  mag- 
nificent achievements  of  the  Chilean  fleet,  but  the 
credit  he  must  share  with  Zenteno,  his  Minister  of 
War  on  land  and  sea.  With  no  personal  knowl- 
edge of  naval  affairs,  with  inexpert  and  im- 
promptu assistants,  and  with  little  aid  from  an 
empty  treasury  and  an  impoverished  people,  Zen- 
teno, without  ostentation  but  without  friction, 
maintained  and  supplied  the  fleet,  paid  the  officers 
and  sailors,  and  transported  the  army  to  Lima  out 
of  his  own  department.  He  not  only  made  the 
navy  pay  for  itself  without  other  resource,  but 
managed,  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  prizes 
and  captures,  to  furnish  considerable  sums  toward 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          305 

the  expense  of  the  civil  administration.  O'Hig- 
gins,  too,  had  sold  or  mortgaged  everything  he 
owned  in  the  world,  and  left  himself  absolutely 
without  means  of  subsistence,  that  he  might  equip 
the  army  for  its  mission  to  Peru. 

It  was  at  such  a  time  as  this,  that  Jose  Miguel 
Carrera,  lifted  his  head  for  a  last  attack  on  his 
country.  Although  constantly  buffeted  by  the 
Lautaro  Lodge,  he  had  managed  to  enlist  the  sym- 
pathies of  family  friends  in  Chile,  and  to  recruit  a 
body  of  men  in  the  Argentine.  He  had  even  so- 
licited and  obtained  the  assistance  of  the  Indians 
of  the  Pampas,  in  the  execution  of  his  enterprise,. 
But  Chile  was  now  freed  from  the  armies  of  Spain, 
and  Carrera's  expedition  must  then  have  been  di- 
rected either  against  Chile  as  a  nation,  or  against 
the  government  of  the  nation,  which  was  O'Hig- 
gins.  A  casuist  might  be  able  to  draw  this  dis- 
tinction, but  even  Carrera,  who  was  no  casuist, 
must  have  known  that  to  invade  the  territory  of 
the  republic  with  an  armed  force  was  treason  and 
the  penalty  was  death.  That  penalty  was  in- 
flicted in  Mendoza  by  the  Lautaro  Lodge,  while 
O'Higgins,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Andes,  turned 
away  his  face  that  he  might  not  seem  even  to  con- 
cur in  the  sentence  so  justly  executed.  Carrera's 
ultimate  purposes  were  variously  regarded  at  the 
time,  and  have  continued  to  exercise  a  wide  in- 
genuity of  conjecture  among  his  countrymen.  It 
seems  to  the  present  writer  indubitable,  that  if 
Chile  had  yielded  to  the  domination  of  his  initia- 


306     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

tive  and  assumed  the  impress  of  his  personality, 
she  would  have  become,  under  whatever  specious 
euphemism,  a  monarchy.  Applying  to  him  the 
words  of  Daniel  Webster,  he  possibly  meant  to  ex- 
ercise power  usefully,  but  he  meant  to  exercise  it ; 
he  meant  to  govern  well,  but  he  meant  to  govern; 
he  promised  himself  to  be  a  kind  master,  but  he 
meant  to  be  master ;  he  might  have  been  a  brilliant 
ruler,  but  he  would  have  ruled  alone.  So  Rozas 
thought,  so  O'Higgins  felt,  so  San  Martin  con- 
cluded. 

O'Higgins  has  been  charged  with  the  death  of 
Carrera,  as  he  was  charged  -  some  years  earlier 
with  the  assassination  of  Manuel  Rodriguez,  the 
hero  of  Colchagua,  who  had  quieted  the  tumult  of 
the  Capital  after  the  disastrous  dispersion  of  the 
Chilean  army  at  Cancha  Rayada.  Miguel  Luis 
Amunategui  believed,  and  recorded  his  belief,  that 
O'Higgins  was  guilty  in  both  instances,  in  spite 
of  extant  documentary  proof  that  not  O'Higgins 
but  the  Lautaro  Lodge  decreed  and  enforced  both 
the  public  execution  of  Jose  Miguel  Carrera,  and 
the  secret  murder  of  Manuel  Rodriguez,  who  was 
by  far  the  most  sympathetic  figure  of  the  Chilean 
Independence.  O'Higgins's  own  abhorrence  of  the 
methods  of  this  terrible  tribunal  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  henceforward  its  influence  in 
the  conduct  of  his  administration  becomes  imper- 
ceptible if  not  entirely  extinct. 

However,  the  death  of  Carrera  furnished  a  sup- 
ply of  ammunition  to  the  enemies  of  O'Higgins, 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          307 

who  were  not  reluctant  to  use  whatever  weapon 
would  serve  them,  and  many  of  whom  doubtless  be- 
lieved that  the  Director  was  unscrupulous  enough 
to  employ  any  means  for  the  removal  of  his  ene- 
mies. O'Higgins,  conscious  of  his  deserts  as  well 
as  of  the  purity  of  his  purposes,  paid  less  attention 
to  his  enemies  than  they  merited.  The  Ministry 
of  Hacienda  had  been  held  by  a  number  of  incum- 
bents, each  of  whom  had  failed  to  devise  any  ade- 
quate system  of  finance,  and  the  Supreme  Director 
now  appointed  to  that  office,  which  was  become  the 
most  important  in  the  administration,  Don  Jose 
Antonio  Rodriguez- Aldea,  a  man  of  dubious  ante- 
cedents, and  of  questionable  integrity,  whose  ma- 
lign influence  over  O'Higgins  precipitated  the  dis- 
aster which  was  already  hastening  to  overwhelm 
him.  Rodriguez- Aide  a  was  a  fellow  townsman  of 
O'Higgins,  but  he  had  thrown  in  his  lot  with  the 
royalist  cause.  He  was  the  Auditor  who  had  sug- 
gested to  Gainza  the  expedient  by  which  that  Gen- 
eral, through  the  Treaty  of  Lircai,  had  extricated 
himself  from  an  apparently  impossible  situation, 
and  had  been  thereby  enabled  to  maintain  himself 
until  Ossorio  came;  it  was  probably  Rodriguez- 
Aldea  who  had  proposed  the  liberation  of  the  Car- 
reras  from  their  imprisonment  in  order  to  intro- 
duce division  into  the  army,  and  discord  into  the 
councils,  of  the  patriots.  He  had  also  been  dex- 
terous enough  to  get  himself  appointed  Attorney- 
General  (Fiscal)  by  Ossorio,  and  to  remain  in  this 
very  important  position  when  Marco  became  Gov- 


308     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

ernor.  It  is  true  that  he  extended  many  favors  to 
the  Chileans  who  were  suspected  of  the  crime  of 
patriotism,  and  it  was  alleged  that  he  had  be- 
trayed the  secrets  of  Marco  to  the  patriots  be- 
yond the  Cordillera. 

The  ability  of  the  new  Minister  might  be  de- 
nied, but  his  industry  was  indefatigable.  He 
found  the  Treasury  without  funds  and  without 
credit.  The  capitalists  refused  to  lend  money  to 
the  government  without  the  personal  security  of 
the  individual  officials.  Meanwhile  the  salaries  of 
these  officials  remained  unpaid.  Zenteno  had,  as 
we  have  seen,  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  navy 
so  skillfully  and  so  honestly  that  there  had  re- 
mained a  balance  to  the  government,  which  was 
paid  into  the  general  treasury  as  long  as  it  was 
available,  but  with  the  fall  of  Lima  in  July,  1821, 
this  little  revenue  stopped  and  the  seamen  clamored 
jfor  their  pay,  while  Lord  Cochrane  wrote  threat- 
jening  letters  to  O'Higgins,  which  made  extremely 
disagreeable  reading  for  that  gentleman,  who  with 
the  best  will  in  the  world,  was  absolutely  unable  to 
raise  the  necessary  money.  Rodriguez- Aldea, 
who  was  neither  a  financier  nor  an  economist,  suc- 
ceeded where  his  predecessors  had  failed.  He  was 
called  the  Necker  of  the  Chilean  Treasury,  but  he 
more  nearly  resembled  Calonne,  for  the  money  that 
filled  the  treasury  was  procured  by  the  lavish  gift, 
as  a  bonus  for  loans,  of  privileges,  exemptions  and 
monopolies  to  the  new  creditors,  which,  while  pro- 
curing temporary  relief,  threatened  the  very  ex- 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          309 

istence  of  the  republic.  There  were  many  men  in 
Chile  whose  prevision  easily  detected  the  financial 
fallacy  of  the  new  minister,  but  O'Higgins  had  no 
feeling  but  gratitude  for  the  agent  who  had  re- 
leased him  from  his  immediate  difficulties,  and  his 
former  confidence  in  Rodriguez-Aldea  was  aug- 
mented by  this  service.  This  incident  illustrates 
the  essential  weakness  of  O'Higgins.  His  gener- 
osity and  patriotism  were  never  questioned,  but 
his  political  sagacity  proved  wofully  inadequate  on 
many  important  occasions.  Impulsive  and  avid  of 
glory  as  few  men  have  been,  he  fell  a  ready  victim 
to  unworthy  flatterers,  and  yielded  a  dishonorable 
compliance  to  the  seductions  of  his  new  Min- 
ister. 

Among  those  who  recognized  and  denounced 
Rodriguez-Aldea  as  a  dangerous  charlatan,  was 
his  colleague  in  the  Ministry,  Don  Jose  Ignacio 
Zenteno.  Rodriguez-Aldea  struck  at  Zenteno 
through  the  Rear  Admiral,  Don  Manuel  Blanco- 
Encalada,  who  happened  to  be  in  Santiago,  and 
whose  patriotism  at  least  might  have  been  thought 
above  attack  since  at  Concepcion  he  had  taken  a 
Spanish  fleet  and  led  an  army  captive.  But 
Blanco-Encalada  also  had  severely  criticised 
Rodriguez-Aldea's  financial  achievements,  saying 
in  effect  that  under  such  a  system  Chile  would  soon 
become  worse  than  Turkey  to  live  in.  The  re- 
mark was  reported  to  Rodriguez-Aldea,  who  had 
the  Admiral  arrested  on  the  charge  of  treason. 
Such  an  accusation,  against  so  eminent  a  patriot, 


310     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

urged  by  the  late  Attorney  General  of  Marco,  was 
supremely  absurd.  It  proved  the  exact  truth  of 
Blanco-Encalada's  assertion.  The  case  was  at  once 
dismissed,  but  Blanco-Encalada  returned  in  disgust 
to  his  squadron  in  Valparaiso,  while  the  utmost 
hostility  ensued  between  Zenteno  and  Rodriguez- 
Aldea.  O'Higgins,  to  quiet  the  acrimonious  quar- 
rels of  his  two  cabinet  Ministers,  appointed  the 
Minister  of  the  Navy  to  the  governorship  of 
Valparaiso,  and  named  the  Minister  of  Hacienda 
as  the  Diplomatic  Agent  of  Chile  in  Peru,  each  to 
preserve  the  portfolio  of  his  Cabinet  Ministry. 
Zenteno  departed  for  Valparaiso  but  resigned  from 
the  Ministry,  while  Rodriguez- Aldea  remained  in 
Santiago  and  received  the  portfolio  of  War  as  it 
fell  from  the  hands  of  Zenteno.  Echeverria,  the 
Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  whom  Vicufia- 
Mackenna  declares  to  have  been  a  man  "of  the 
most  extraordinary  mediocrity,"  was  appointed  to 
take  over  the  direction  of  Naval  affairs.  Thus 
Rodriguez- Aldea  dominated  the  government  in  all 
of  its  activities.  There  remained  only  one  oppo- 
nent whom  he  seemed  unable  to  remove,  to  control, 
to  corrupt,  or  to  intimidate — General  Ramon 
Freire,  the  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Concep- 
cion. 

Four  years  had  now  elapsed  since  the  project 
of  a  constitution  quieted  the  popular  clamor  for 
an  instrument  which  should  acknowledge  and  con- 
firm the  independence  of  Chile,  and  during  that 
'•<•  time  the  freedom  of  the  nation  from  foreign  foes 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          311 

had  been  secured  by  the  expulsion  of  the  last  bat- 
talions of  Spanish  troops  from  Concepcion  and  - 
Talcahuano,  and  by  the  fall  of  Lima.  The  Chileans 
had  concurred  in  yielding  obedience  to  the  essen- 
tially military  government  of  O'Higgins,  but  now 
they  were  beginning  to  feel  that  the  enemy  to  their 
freedom  was  at  home  in  Santiago,  entrenched  in 
power  and  supported  by  an  army,  and  they  were 
determined  to  have  a  Constitution.  Since  the  fall 
of  Lima,  O'Higgins  knew  that  such  a  demand  was 
inevitable  and  would  be  irresistible,  but  he  was 
loth  to  yield  up  his  autocratic  power,  partly  be- 
cause it  was  so  unquestionably  delightful,  but 
doubtless  also  because  he  thought  himself  the 
fittest  person  in  Chile  to  rule  the  State.  There 
is  no  question,  too,  but  Rodriguez- Aldea  clung  to 
his  delegated  authority  with  a  tenacity  that  had  an 
immeasurable  influence  upon  the  Supreme  Director. 
The  Minister  poured  into  the  willing  ear  of  his 
Chief  assurances  that  he  alone  who  had  freed  Chile 
could  preserve  her  freedom,  which  under  any  other 
ruler  must  degenerate  into  either  anarchy  or 
despotism ;  that  his  duty  to  his  country  demanded 
his  retention  of  office  by  all  legitimate  methods; 
that  the  blind  multitude  could  not  judge  easily  of 
their  political  needs,  but  were  led  by  unscrupulous 
demagogues  whose  only  purpose  was  self-advance- 
ment. O'Higgins  listened  to  the  fatal  words  of 
his  flatterer  and  determined  to  silence  the  popular 
clamor  by  evading  the  popular  demand.  The  road 
he  was  already  familiar  with,  having  traveled  it 


312     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

once  before  with  a  purer  purpose.  He  issued  a 
decree  on  May  7,  1822,  calling  for  the  election  of 
delegates  to  a  preparatory  convention. 

There  was  no  law  providing  for  the  election  of 
any  representative  body  and  no  legislature  that 
could  formulate  such  a  law.  O'Higgins  announced 
therefore  in  his  decree  of  convocation,  that  each 
municipality  in  Chile  should  by  a  majority  vote 
elect  one  representative  or  delegate  to  the  Prepar- 
atory Convention.  In  this  there/was  nothing  im- 
proper or  suspicious,  but  together  with  a  copy  of 
the  decree  which  was  sent  to  each  municipality  in 
the  country,  there  went  a  note  signed  by  the  Su- 
preme Director,  containing  the  name  of  the  dele- 
gate whom  the  government  wished  to  be  elected. 
Thus  the  elections  were  carried  on,  not  by  the  free 
choice  of  the  municipal  bodies,  but  in  the  darkness 
and  secrecy  of  the  private  apartment  of  Rodrf- 
guez-Aldea.  Moreover,  the  minister  intended 
that  his  command  should  be  obeyed,  for  when  the 
Cabildo  of  Valdivia  had  the  temerity~to  pass  over 
the  name  dictated  to  them  and  elect  unanimously 
a  resident  of  Valdivia  by  the  name  of  Pineda,  this 
gentleman  was  immediately  arrested  and  impris- 
oned by  the  chief  of  the  garrison  and  another  meet- 
ing of  the  Cabildo  was  called  which  proved  more 
tractable. 

On  July  23rd,  1822,  the  Supreme  Director  in- 
stalled the  Preparatory  Convention  with  sufficient 
pomp,  and  after  expressing  his  confidence  in  the 
result  of  their  deliberations  he  placed  in  the  hands 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          313 

of  their  President,  Ruiz-Tagle,  a  message  contain- 
ing his    resignation   as   Supreme   Director.     The 
first  official  act  of  the  Convention  was  to  re-elect 
him  by  acclamation  for  a  period  that  should  be  ; 
determined  by  the  future  Constitution.     This  was 
a  pitiable  farce,  entirely  unworthy  of  the  character 
of  Don  Bernardo  and  entirely  unnatural  to  hhW 
The  people  of  Chile  were  not  represented  by  a  sin-  #' 
gle  member.     The  Convention  was  packed  and  the 
whole  of  Chile  knew  it.     The  strings  were  too  vis-  I 
ible,  the  puppets  too  obedient  to  deceive  any  one. 
It  is  easy  to   recognize  the  hand  of  Rodriguez- 
Aldea ;  it  has  been  affirmed,  even  by  lukewarm  ad- 
mirers of  O'Higgins,  that  the  Supreme  Director 
himself  was  one  of  the  puppets ;  but  no  sophistry 
and  no  excuse   can  materially  mitigate  the  pain 
with  which  we   read  the  lamentable   burlesque  in* 
which  Don   Bernardo   O'H'iggins  played  such  an| 
ignoble  role.     Fortunately  for  him,  a  different  oc- 
casion was  soon  to  show  him  in  his  true  character, 
when   the   cowardly   satellites   of  his  power  slunk 
from  his  side  and  left  him  standing  alone  before 
the  people  of  Chile. 

This  incompetent  Convention  derived  its  powers 
from  the  decree  of  the  Director  and  immediately 
transcended  them,  by  proceeding  to  the  considera- 
tion  and  adoption  of  a  Constitution  for  the  Re- 
public. This  Constitution  was  received  with  de-  . 
rision,  for  the  people  were  in  no  mood  to  respect 
such  an  irregular  and  invalid  instrument.  A  Con- 
stitution, however  excellent,  was  not  now  the  press- 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

ing  need ;  the  people  were  determined  first  of  all  to 
get  rid  of  their  Director,  whose  transparent  sub- 
terfuge had  exasperated  them  beyond  endurance, 
for  they  saw  in  his  conduct  a  menace  to  the  State. 
To  be  sure,  the  new  Constitution  limited  the  term 
of  the  Supreme  Director  to  six  years  which,  at  the 
expiration  of  that  period,  might  be  increased  by 
four  additional  years,  but  even  if  the  Constitution 
had  been  of  valid  origin,  it  was  little  suited  to  the 
demands  of  the  country.  It  is  not  quite  the  exact 
truth  that  O'Higgins  had  become  personally  ob- 

j  jectionable  to  Chile;  he  was  not  the  real  object  of 
attack,  it  was  the  system  under  which  an  irrespon- 

:  sible  Ministry  could  so  abuse  its  authority  as  to 
become  a  source  of  danger.  But  O'Higgins  was 
a  part  of  this  system  and  must  share  its  fate. 
For  six  years  they  had  generously  entrusted  him 
with  their  fortunes,  their  lives  and  the  welfare  of 
their  country,  without  a  guaranty  on  his  part  and 
almost  without  a  murmur  on  theirs.  He  had  re- 
spected that  trust.  Without  limitations  to  his 
power,  he  had  preserved  their  rights;  without 
guaranties  given  or  required,  he  had  added  glo- 
rious pages  to  the  nation's  annals.  But  the  future 
must  be  safeguarded,  and  Don  Bernardo  had  de- 
ceived their  hopes  and  baffled  their  efforts,  through 
the  undignified  machinations  of  an  unscrupulous 
favorite. 

Don  Ramon  Freire  has  from  time  to  time  ap- 
peared incidentally  in  these  pages,  but  without  dis- 
closing, and  without  himself  suspecting,  that  his 


CHILE  Ul  DER  O'HIGGINS          315 

destiny  was  to  succeed  O'Higgins  as  Supreme  Di- 
rector of  Chile.  For  nearly  the  whole  period  of 
O'Higgins'  rule,  General  Freire  had  been  in  com- 
mand of  the  province  of  Concepcion,  and  had  been 
occupied  in  the  protracted  and  discouraging  effort 
to  suppress  the  lawless  and  ferocious  followers  of 
Benavides  and  Pico,  who  when  threatened,  con- 
cealed themselves  in  the  inaccessible  woods  of  the 
Cordillera,  or  among  the  unsubdued  Araucans,  and 
when  their  immediate  peril  had  passed,  resumed 
their  ravages  and  depredations  on  the  plains  be- 
low and  on  the  cities  of  the  plains.  These  bandits 
pursued  simple  rules ;  they  burned  every  house, 
hamlet  or  town  they  captured,  they  killed  the  men 
and  the  children,  and  the  women  and  cattle  they 
carried  off  to  their  mountain  fastnesses.  They 
took  no  prisoners  but  women,  and  gave  no  quarter 
to  any  one.  Benavides  had  at  different  times  a 
thousand  men  under  him,  well-armed  and  well 
mounted,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  give  battle  to 
Freire  himself.  The  Chilean  forces  were  neces- 
sarily distributed  as  garrisons  among  the  cities 
and  forts  of  the  province,  and  Benavides  even  cap- 
tured the  city  of  Concepcion  and  held  it  for  weeks, 
against  all  the  attempts  that  General  Freire  could 
make  to  recover  it.  In  such  a  state  of  the  prov- 
ince, the  planting  and  raising  of  crops  was  im- 
practicable, and  the  army  was  dependant  for  its 
supplies  of  food  as  well  as  of  clothing  and  ammu- 
nition, on  the  Central  government.  So  long  as 
Zenteno  was  in  charge  of  the  War  Department, 


316     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

these  supplies  were  sent  with  regularity,  but  when 
Rodriguez-Aldea  supplanted  him,  the  army  was 
left  to  starve.  In  vain  Freire  wrote  again  and 
again  that  the  soldiers  went  literally  naked,  and 
could  not  leave  their  barracks  except  under  cover 
of  night ;  that  the  residents  of  the  whole  province 
were  starving  to  death,  and  that  he  was  without 
powder  even  for  the  muskets  of  the  soldiers.  With 
tears  in  his  eyes  and  rage  in  his  heart,  he  implored 
the  Minister  to  send  him  flour  and  powder  at  least, 
to  enable  the  people  to  live  and  the  garrison  to  re- 
pel attack, — Rodriguez-Aldea  finally  sent  him 
powder  and  some  corn,  but  the  corn  was  insuffi- 
cient, and  when  the  powder  barrels  were  opened, 
they  were  found  to  be  filled  with  sawdust.  The 
flaming  remonstrances  of  General  Freire  at  this 
inconceivable  barbarity  were  directed  to  Don  Ber- 
nardo, but  they  were  answered  by  Rodriguez- 
Aldea;  Don  Bernardo  never  saw  them.  The  line 
of  endurance  had  been  crossed ;  Freire  took  a  ves- 
sel for  Valparaiso  with  part  of  his  army  and  the 
rest  marched  for  the  Capital  by  way  of  Chilian 
and  Talca.  All  the  southern  province  was  in  a 
flame  of  insurrection. 

Meanwhile  affairs  in  Santiago  were  also  ap- 
proaching a  crisis.  Early  in  January  the  details 
of  Rodriguez- Aldea's  iniquities  were  laid  before  the 
Supreme  Director,  who  refused  to  believe  them. 
Still  his  confidence  in  his  Minister  was  shaken  and, 
on  the  exhibition  of  convincing  proof  of  the  alle- 
gations, he  dismissed  Rodriguez-Aldea  on  the  7th 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          317 

of  January  (1823) .  With  the  fall  of  the  favorite, 
fell  also  the  whole  system  of  spoliation  that  he  had 
built  up,  and  his  clerks  and  dependants,  the  army 
contractors  and  the  farmers  of  the  revenue,  the 
jobbers  and  the  discounters,  scurried  away  into 
terrified  obscurity.  The  accounts  of  his  office  dis- 
closed a  conspiracy  of  robbery  that  was  beyond 
belief,  but  that  never  for  a  moment,  in  the  sus- 
picions of  his  worst  enemies,  involved  the  reputa- 
tion of  Don  Bernardo,  whose  humiliation  at  this 
proof  of  the  betrayal  of  his  confidence  was  ex- 
treme. 

With  the  fall  of  the  favorite,  the  confidence  of 
the  people  in  their  Director  seemed  to  revive,  but 
his  faith  in  himself  had  received  a  severe  blow  in 
the  recent  disclosures.  On  the  16th,  he  decided  to 
relinquish  his  office  by  a  voluntary  and  absolute 
resignation,  and  he  wrote  Freire  in  Concepcion 
that  he  would  appoint  him  as  his  successor  until  the 
will  of  the  people  could  be  effectually  ascertained. 
He  still  considered  valid  the  election  made  by  the 
Preparatory  Convention  of  1822,  which  had  named 
him  Director  for  a  term  of  six  years,  but  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  yield  up  the  office  to  Freire  as 
soon  as  he  could  reach  the  Capital;  the  Constitu- 
tion, under  which  his  own,  powers  were  continued, 
giving  him  the  right  to  name  his  successor.  Freire 
was  recently  become  a  member  of  the  Lautaro 
Lodge.  But  the  leaders  in  Santiago,  though  they 
and  the  whole  country  concurred  in  the  nomination 
of  General  Freire,  were  fixed  in  the  resolve,  to  put 


318     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

an  immediate  end  to  the  present  government,  and 
on  the  28th  of  January,  Infante,  Eyzaguirre  and 
Errazuriz,  with  the  Cabildo  and  the  representatives 
of  the  important  families  of  the  Capital,  convened 
in  the  Bishop's  Palace  and  summoned  Don  Ber- 
nardo to  a  Cabildo  Abierto. 

Don  Bernardo  refused  to  obey  the  summons. 
He  had  made  up  his  mind  to  resign,  but  he  wanted 
to  resign  in  his  own  way,  and  he  resented  the  ap- 
pearance of  compulsion  that  the  summons  implied. 
A  commission  composed  of  his  intimate  friends  was 
requested  by  the  Cabildo  Abierto  to  invite  him  to 
the  Bishop's  Palace. 

"If  they  wish  to  speak  with  me,"  he  replied,  "let 
them  come  to  me.  I  am  not  subject  to  the  beck 
and  whim  of  a  pack  of  cafe-waiters  and  street 
boys." 

The  commission  returned  and  were  then  di- 
rected by  the  Cabildo  Abierto  to  induce  Don  Ber- 
nardo's mother  and  sister  to  intercede  with  him,  as 
if  he  were  another  Coriolanus.  They  refused  to  do 
so.  The  Cabildo  Abierto  was  now  at  a  perfect 
stand.  They  were  without  means  to  compel  the 
presence  of  Don  Bernardo,  or  even  to  discover 
what  his  intentions  might  be.  The  garrison  of 
the  Capital,  consisting  of  a  regiment  of  Lancers, 
of  a  park  of  artillery  well  equipped  and  com- 
manded, and  of  the  Body  Guard  of  the  Director, 
was  known  to  be  completely  under  Don  Bernardo's 
control,  if  an  appeal  to  arms  became  necessary; 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          319 

but  the  Cabildo  had  no  intention  to  resort  to  armed 
force,  and  if  they  had  had  an  army  they  would  not 
have  determined  to  use  it.  Still  Don  Bernardo's 
irascible  disposition  was  well-known,  and  many  of 
those  present  in  the  Bishop's  Palace  would  gladly 
have  retired  and  left  the  solution  to  chance  or  to 
Don  Bernardo's  decision,  but  Eyzaguirre  and  In- 
fante were!  resolute  to  come  to  an  immediate  under- 
standing with  Don  Bernardo,  and  withstood  the 
dissolution  of  the  Cabildo.  Finally  Cruz  and 
Pereira,  two  of  the  officers  of  the  city  troops,  were 
sent  to  represent  to  O'Hlggins  the  necessity  of  his 
presence  and  to  impress  upon  him  the  respectable 
character  of  the  Cabildo.  To  their  solicitations 
he  finally  yielded,  and  accompanied  by  the  two  of- 
ficers, proceeded  to  the  Palace,  where  the  Cabildo 
Abierto  awaited  his  presence. 

It  was  now  about  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
The  heat  of  the  day  was  passing,  the  sun  was  de- 
scending in  the  West,  and  a  feverish  impatience 
pervaded  the  Cabildo.  Don  Bernardo  entered  the 
hall  alone,  and  passed  slowly  through  the  throng 
that  filled  it,  until  he  had  reached  the  head  of  the 
room,  when  he  turned  about  and  faced  them.  Dig- 
nified and  unperturbed,  he  stood  for  a  moment  and 
glanced  over  the  assembly. 

"What  is  the  occasion  of  this  meeting,  and  why 
was  I  summoned  to  attend?"  he  asked.  A  pro- 
found silence  followed  the  question.  Respect,  ad- 
miration, gratitude  for  his  great  services,  filled 


320     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

every  heart.  Again,  in  the  same  assured  voice,  he 
put  the  same  question  and  again  awaited  a  response. 

Egana  replied,  at  length, 

"We  all  esteem  and  respect  the  Supreme  Direc- 
tor as  sons  esteem  and  respect  their  father.  We 
have  called  Your  Excellency  hither  that  we  may 
together  take  counsel  for  the  welfare  of  the  State, 
and  I,  animated  with  the  sentiments  I  have 
ascribed  to  all,  venture  to  declare  that  it  has  be- 
come necessary  for  Your  Excellency  to  resign  his 
office." 

"If  I  resign  my  office,"  responded  Don  Ber- 
nardo, in  the  same  quiet  tone,  "I  must  do  so  be- 
fore a  body  which  represents  the  Nation,  and  this 
meeting  seems  not  in  any  way  to  hold  such  repre- 
sentation." 

"That  is  true,"  said  Infante,  "but  the  people  of 
the  Capital  alone  regard  themselves  as  still  under 
Your  Excellency's  authority,  and  we  have  decided 
upon  a  change  in  the  personnel  of  the  Government 
of  the  Nation." 

"But,"  rejoined  Don  Bernardo,  without  losing 
his  composure  at  this  brusque  intimation,  "I  still 
fail  to  recognize  the  Nation  in  this  very  respectable 
assembly.  What  you  do  to-day  the  Nation  may 
refuse  to-morrow  to  ratify." 

The  purpose  of  the  assembly  wavered  under  the 
imposing  presence  of  Don  Bernardo,  and  its  mem- 
bers looked  at  one  another  in  uncertainty.  They 
forgot  that  this  question  had  been  decided  upon  by 
them  beforehand,  and  they  were  thrown  into  con- 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS 

fusion  by  the  calm  reasoning  of  Don  Bernardo. 
Here  was  no  question  of  violence  but  of  discussion 
and  argument.  Here,  not  force  but  reason  must 
prevail.  Errazuriz  saw  the  hesitancy  of  his  asso- 
ciates and  said  quickly, 

"Concepcion  and  Coquimbo  have  declared  their 
decision.  They  are  not  indeed  here  in  direct  rep- 
resentation, but  we  may  safely  assume  under  the 
circumstances  to  represent  them.  By  yielding  to 
us  then,  Your  Excellency  yields  up  your  command 
into  the  hands  of  the  Nation." 

"I  am  in  no  wise  intimidated  by  the  action  of 
Concepcion  and  Coquimbo,  and  may  safely  guar- 
antee to  preserve  the  Capital  from  their  attack  if 
necessary,"  replied  Don  Bernardo.  "I  shall  ex- 
pect to  vindicate  the  office  which  I  hold  and  exact 
the  respect  that  is  due  to  it." 

"Do  not  deceive  yourself,"  said  Errazuriz, 
firmly,  "the  entire  Republic  requires  Your  Excel- 
lency to  resign  your  office  without  delay." 

The  energy  of  Errazuriz  had  by  this  time  roused 
the  flagging  will  of  his  associates.  Don  Bernardo 
saw  the  effect  of  these  words  on  the  assembly. 
Fear  fell  from  them,  their  forms  became  suddenly 
erect,  every  face  was  raised,  and  their  eyes  were 
filled  with  determination  as  they  confronted  his 
own.  He  read  a  challenge  in  the  faces  of  the  as- 
sembly. Taking  a  step  forward  he  asked,  haugh- 
tily, 

"Who  has  authorized  you  to  make  such  a  de- 
mand upon  me?" 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

But  the  assembly  had  regained  all  their  cour- 
age. In  a  moment,  by  a  universal  impulse,  they 
surged  toward  him,  shouting, 

"All!     All  of  us!     All!" 

Don  Bernardo  saw  their  threatening  faces  and 
misunderstood  their  intent.  He  thought  they 
were  going  to  murder  him,  but  he  did  not  flinch 
and  made  no  motion  to  defend  himself  from  their 
onset,  though  his  sword  hung  as  usual  at  his  side. 

"Come,  if  you  will,"  he  called,  in  a  voice  that 
rang  over  their  heads  and  was  heard  in  the  plaza, 
"Come !  I  am  not  afraid.  I  disregard  death  to- 
day as  I  have  always  disregarded  it  on  the  field  of 
battle."  , 

At  that  word  the  crowd  recoiled  as  if  every  man 
had  received  a  blow.  Back  upon  itself  it  crushed, 
baffled  and  beaten.  A  breathless  pause  ensued. 
Don  Bernardo  was  again  the  hero  of  Chacabuco. 
They  felt  as  if  their  hands  had  been  restrained 
from  committing  a  sacrilege.  And  indeed  with  the 
violent  access  of  sudden  passion,  they  might  have 
killed  him  without  having  intended  his  death. 
They  shrank  back  as  far  as  the  mass  of  their  as- 
sociates would  permit,  appalled,  as  from  a  sudden 
gulf. 

O'Higgins  regained  his  composure  in  a  moment. 
He  knew  now  that  he  controlled  the  situation,  but 
he  knew  also  that  the  only  use  he  could  make  of  it 
was  to  resign. 

"Since  you  represent  the  Nation,"  he  said 
quietly,  "let  us  come  to  an  understanding ;  but  first 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          323 

let  the  room  be  cleared  of  all  unnecessary 
persons." 

By  this  time  the  sun  had  set,  and  the  early  dark- 
ness began  to  invade  the  hall.  In  the  patio  with- 
out, the  people  were  grouped  about  the  doors  and 
windows,  and  the  voices  of  the  Director  and  of  the 
self-constituted  commission  were  easily  heard. 
Not  a  sound  came  into  the  hall  from  without ;  anx- 
iety and  suspense  reigned. 

"Now,"  resumed  Don  Bernardo,  "that  you  as- 
sume, without  credentials  or  other  visible  proof  of 
authority,  to  speak  for  the  Republic  of  Chile,  tell 
me  what  it  is  that  you  intend  to  do,  or  rather  tell 
me  what  you  wish  me  to  do." 

Don  Jose  Maria  Guzman,  the  Intendente  of 
Santiago,  answered, 

"In  order  that  there  may  be  no  question  as  to 
our  credentials,  I  have  to  acknowledge  to  Your 
Excellency  that,  whatever  other  authority  we 
might  rightfully  claim,  we,  who  are  here  assembled 
in  this  apartment  and  in  the  patio  without,  are  in 
reality  nothing  more  than  the  people  of  the  city  of 
Santiago, — but  I  for  one  had  the  honor  to  be  pres- 
ent at  the  Cabildo  Abierto,  which  on  the  16th  of 
February,  1817,  elected  Your  Excellency  Supreme 
Director  of  Chile,  and  that  assembly  was  far  less 
numerous  and  representative  than  the  one  which 
now  requests  your  abdication." 

Don  Bernardo  could  make  no  reply.  He  was 
conquered.  He  walked  to  the  table  and  re- 
moved the  ribbon  from  his  chest  and  laid  down 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

his  staff  of  office.  Then  he  turned  to  them  and 
said: 

"I  regret  that  I  may  not  lay  down  the  insignia 
of  my  office  before  the  National  Assembly  from 
which  a  few  months  ago  I  last  received  it,  and  I 
regret  still  more  that  I  may  not  bring  to  comple- 
tion the  projects  that  I  have  meditated  for  the 
good  of  my  country ;  but  I  leave  her  free  from  for- 
eign domination  or  invasion,  respected  abroad,  and 
at  home  covered  with  glory  from  her  victories  on 
land  and  sea.  From  this  moment  I  am  a  simple 
citizen  of  Chile.  It  may  be  that  during  the  years 
in  which  I  held  chief  command,  the  respect  due  to 
my  person  or  at  least  to  my  high  office,  has  silenced 
complaint  or  shortened  the  reach  of  justice.  Let 
such  accusers  now  step  forward  and  speak  with- 
out impediment.  What  wrongs  have  I  done, 
whose  tears  have  I  made  to  flow?  I  speak  not 
now  of  the  wrongs  we  have  all  suffered,  of  the 
tears  we  have  shed  together,  of  the  evils  that  war 
and  disaster  have  inflicted  on  every  Chilean,  but 
of  those  which  my  own  evil  passions  may  have 
caused.  If  any  such  have  just  cause  of  accusa- 
tion against  me,  let  them  speak,  and  though  I  am 
so  poor  that  nothing  remains  to  me  but  the  blood 
in  my  veins,  I  will  pay  them  in  that  coin  if  any 
accuse  me." 

At  once  a  great  shout  went  up  in  which  the 
people  of  the  patio  joined: 

"We  have  nothing  against  O'Higgins.  Vive 
O'Higgins !"  and  then,  a  wonderful  thing !  the 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          325 

shout   suddenly   died,    and   the   voice   of  weeping 
filled  the  assembly. 

O'Higgins  was  profoundly  moved.  He  could 
not  utter  another  word.  He  passed  out  of  the 
apartment,  through  the  patio  and  into  the  street. 
A  throng  of  people  followed  him  to  his  own  door 
in  silent  honor  and  love.  The  morning  sun  as  it 
rose  above  the  eastern  Cordillera,  found  many 
of  them  still  standing  at  the  entrance  through 
which  he  had  disappeared. 

With  the  demission  of  Don  Bernardo  O'Hig- 
gins,  the  freedom  of  Chile  was  finally  assured. 
The  dread  of  personal  despotism  was  expelled  in 
1823,  as  the  dread  of  Peninsular  domination  had 
been  expelled  in  1818  at  Maipo.  Not  that  Don 
Bernardo  v/as  a  despot,  nor  that  his  successor, 
Don  Ramon  Freire,  could  have  become  one ;  but  the 
Constitution  of  1823  formed  an  effectual  barrier 
to  any  irregular  attempt  to  impose  on  Chile  the 
will  of  an  autocrat,  such  as  Prieto  or  some  other 
ambitious  egotist  would  have  aspired,  without  such 
a  barrier,  to  become.  The  people  of  Chile  were 
just  and  generous.  They  were  lacking  in  neither 
justice  nor  generosity  toward  O'Higgins  in  1823, 
nor  toward  Freire,  when,  in  1830,  he  also  was 
compelled  to  abandon  his  country  and  depart  into 
exile.  During  these  difficult  years,  Chile  was 
struggling  to  find  herself.  The  country  was  di- 
vided for  a  time  between  various  theories  of  gov-  j 
ernment ;  between  the  single  Chief  Magistrate  of  a 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

Centralized  Union,  or  a  Junta  in  which  the  three 
provinces  of  Santiago,  Concepcion  and  Coquimbo 
should  represent  the  confederated  authority  of  a 
divided  Nation.  Many  Constitutions  and  Proj- 
ects of  Constitution  were  elaborated  by  success- 
ive Congresses,  until  Don  Diego  Portales  suc- 
ceeded, in  1833,  in  establishing  the  equilibrium  of 
the  Republic  upon  the  basis  of  an  oligarchy,  a 
skilful  compromise  to  which  is  due  the  subsequent 
stability  of  the  Republic. 

"Never  was  a  country  worse  prepared  for  a 
Jt  republican  mode  of  government  than  Spanish 
America,"  said  Amunategui.  Even  the  great  men 
who  led  them  to  independence  had,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Rozas,  little  faith  in  the  capacity  of 
their  countrymen  for  self  government.  Bolivar 
was  a  patriot  but  not  a  republican.  His  con- 
tinuous hope  was  to  establish  Presidencies  for  life 
in  each  of  the  five  countries  from  whose  necks  he 
had  assisted  in  striking  off  the  Spanish  yoke. 
Colombia,  Venezuela,  Ecuador,  Peru  and  Bolivia 
being  thus,  as  he  dreamed,  governed  by  his  crea- 
tures, his  path  to  the  Empire  of  all  seemed  clear 
It  is  probable  that  in  the  famous  interview  be- 
tween Bolivar  and  San  Martin  in  Guayaquil, — 
famous  rather  from  the  conjectures  that  arose  as 
to  its  character  than  from  any  knowledge  of  it 
that  has  ever  been  made  public — the  opinions  of 
these  great  men  clashed  fatally  on  this  one  ques- 
tion. Bolivar's  purpose  was  not  then  entirely  con- 
cealed, and  has  been  amply  illuminated  by  a  care- 


CHILE  UNDER  O'HIGGINS          327 

ful  study  of  his  words  and  of  his  subsequent  ac- 
tions. San  Martin  alluded  to  Bolivar's  idea  on 
a  later  occasion  when  he  said,  "We  could  never 
obey  as  a  Sovereign  a  man  with  whom  we  had 
smoked  cigars  in  camp." 

That  San  Martin,  in  this  interview  with  Boli- 
var, despaired  of  the  future  of  popular  govern- 
ment among  the  people  of  Spanish  America,  and 
concurred  in  the  purpose  of  Buenos  Ayres  to  invite 
a  European  prince  to  ascend  the  throne  that  the 
Argentines  were  anxious  to  erect  for  him,  was  ad- 
mitted later  by  Bolivar  himself,  who  derided  the 
scheme,  saying,  "A  European  King  in  America 
would  have  none  but  frogs  for  his  subjects." 

In  Mexico,  Don  Augustin  Iturbide  assumed  the 
rank  and  power  of  Emperor  soon  after  the  rule 
of  Spain  was  destroyed,  and  Mexico  seems  never 
to  have  entirely  thrown  off  the  imperial  obsession. 

In  Chile  we  may  only  conjecture  what  purpose 
of  personal  grandeur  was  formed  in  the  mind  of 
Jose  Miguel  Carrera,  for  misfortune  and  defeat 
had  filled  his  heart  with  saeva  indignatio  and  had 
destroyed  his  career  long  before  the  murderer's 
bullet  put  an  end  to  his  life;  but  Don  Bernardo 
nttrmfpfl  hi  irnlnn 


all  desirable  .limits^  _and  was  constrained  to  abdi- 
cate his  office  and  live  out  his  days  in  exile.  "THe 
ingratitude  of  the  people,"  muttered  O'Higgins, 
as  he  left  Valparaiso  for  Lima.  "The  ingrati- 
tude of  the  people,"  said  Bolivar,  when  on  the 
29th  of  April,  I860,  his  dictatorship  came  to  an 


528     THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  CHILE 

f) 

end  with  the  promulgation  of  a  new  Constitution 
and  the  election  of  Mosquera  as  President ;  and 
he  added  bitterly.  "Our  independence  is  the  only 

thjng   We  have    apVliVvP^"^  *^p   r»nst    of^pypr^fln'Tig 

else."  San  Martin  wrote  the  same  gloomy  reflec- 
tion to  O'Higgins  from  the  little  farm  in  Mendoza, 
where,  only  five  years  after  the  battle  of  Maipo, 
he  lived  in  poverty,  already  neglected  if  not  for- 
gotten. "Gratitude,"  he  wrote,  "is  a  private,  not 
a  public  virtue." 

But  the  people  were  wiser,  wiser  with  the  wisdom 
of  unconscious  intuition;  wiser  for  themselves,  for 
their  country  and  for  the  fame  and  splendor  of 
their  heroes.  It  was  necessary  for  the  people  to 
acquire  the  experience  in  politics  that  would  fit 
them  for  self-government.  The  state  could  not, 
with  dignity  and  moral  profit,  continue  to  be  gov- 
erned by  individuals  rendered  irresponsible  by 
prestige  or  gratitude.  As  to  the  heroes  them- 
selves, their  work  was  done,  and  only  time  could 
mature,  consolidate  and  perfect  it.  Moreover, 
their  memory  has  become  dearer  and  their  luster 
brighter  from  the  unmerited  humiliation  that  ob- 
scured their  last  earthly  years,  and  which  has 
added  something  like  the  glory  of  martyrdom  to 
the  splendor  of  virtue. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"Los  Precursores  de  la  Independencia."  3  Vols. 
Don  Miguel  Luis  Amunategui. 

"La  Cronica  del  aiio  1810."  2  Vols.  Don  Miguel 
Luis  Amunategui. 

"La  Historia  de  Valparaiso."  2  Vols.  Don  Benja- 
min Vicuna-Mackenna. 

"La  Mision  de  Don  Juan  Muzi,  Delegado  Apostolico 
en  Chile,  1824."  Don  Luis  Barros  Borgono. 

"Report  on  the  Present  State  of  the  Provinces  of 
South  America."  By  the  U.  S.  Commissioners, 
Rodney  and  Graham.  Published  1819- 

"A  Voyage  to  South  America."  2  Vols.  Don  Jorge 
Juan  and  Don  Antoitffr  de  Ulloa.  English  Trans- 
lation, 1758. 

"Investigaciones  sobre  la  Influencia  Social  de  la  Con- 
quista  i  del  Systema  Colonial  de  los  Espanoles  en 
Chile."  Don  Jose  Victorino  Lastarria. 

"El  Primer  Gobierno  Nacional."  Don  Manuel  An- 
tonio Tocornal. 

"Historia  General  de  la  Independencia  de  Chile." 
Don  Diego  Barros  Arana. 

"Primeras  Campafias  de  la  Guerra  de  la  Indepen- 
dencia de  Chile."  Don  Diego  Jose  Benavente. 

"La  Reconquista  Espafiola."  Don  Miguel  Luis  and 
Gregorio  Victor  Amunategui. 

"Chile  desde  la  Batalla  de  Chacabuco  hasta  la  del 
Maipo."     Don  Salvador  Sanfuentes. 
329 


S30  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"La  Guerra  a  Muerte."     Don  Benjamin  Vicuna-Mac- 

kenna. 
"Primer   Escuadra  Nacional."     Don  Antonio  Garcia 

Reyes. 
"Sucesos  Ocurridos  desde  la  Caida  de  Don  Bernardo 

O'Higgins  hasta  la  Promulgacion  de  la  Constitu- 

cion  de  1823."     Don  Domingo  Santa-Maria. 
"Las    Campanas    de    Chiloe."     Don    Diego    Barros 

Arana. 
"Chile  durante  los  Anos  de  1824  a  1828."     Don  Mel- 

chor  Concha  i  Toro." 
"La    Dictadura   de    O'Higgins."     Don    Miguel    Luis 

Amunategui. 
"El  Ostracismo  de  O'Higgins."     Don  Benjamin  Vi- 

cuna-Mackenna. 
"The  Autobiography  of  a   Seaman."     2   Vols.     The 

Earl  of  Dundonald. 
"The  Life  of  Thomas,  Lord  Cochrane,  Tenth  Earl  of 

Dundonald."     2  Vols.     Thomas,  Eleventh  Earl  of 

Dundonald,  and  H.  R.  Fox-Bourne. 
"Twenty  Years  in  South  America."     S  Vols.     W.  B. 

Stevenson,  Private  Secretary  to  Lord  Cochrane. 


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